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Why Reclaim Pride is important for queer liberation

Words by Smiley Team

Thousands of people from the LGBT+ community and their allies recently joined broadcaster and campaigner Peter Tatchell for a reinvigorated version of Pride in London. This first-ever event, Reclaim Pride, called for leaders to strengthen human rights and end persecution for the LGBT+ community worldwide.

After making their way from Parliament Square to Whitehall, participants held a socially-distanced queer picnic in Hyde Park on Saturday 24 July, where they celebrated LGBT+ culture with food, drink and music. 

Tatchell’s human rights nonprofit, the Peter Tatchell Foundation, organised the event to replace Pride in London, which was postponed to 11 September.

The event launched with five main aims: banning LGBT+ conversion therapy, reforming the Gender Recognition Act, offering a safe haven for LGBT+ refugees, decriminalising LGBT+ people worldwide, and showing solidarity with Black Lives Matter.

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We want to make Pride, once again, an event where our on-going demands for LGBTI+ liberation can be seen and heard," says Tatchell.

A proud tradition of equality

Tatchell hopes Reclaim Pride will return Pride to its roots, something he believes is missing in the mainstream event. “Reclaim Pride took us back to the original roots of Pride, as both a celebration and a protest," he says. "I was so happy to be part of a Pride that echoed the values and ideals of the first UK Pride in 1972. It felt authentic."

Following the Stonewall Riots in the US, the first ever Pride events were held in Chicago, New York City, Los Angeles, and San Francisco to mark Stonewall’s anniversary. Two years later, it came to London for the riots’ third anniversary. 

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Since the first ever Pride in London, attended by around 2,000 people, the event has grown to see hundreds of thousands marching through London’s streets. In recent years, it has featured branded floats sponsored by the likes of Barclays Bank, ASDA and CitiBank.

Reclaim Pride has different sources of funding. In addition to the Peter Tatchell Foundation, its sponsors include UK Black Pride, Diva magazine, Lesbian Visibility Week, London Trans Pride, and Stand Up To LGBTQ+ Hate Crime, among others.

To support the Peter Tatchell Foundation campaign for human rights worldwide donate here.

For more information visit petertatchellfoundation.org.

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