2000s gay protests

They were there to make sure that they could arrest us if they thought we were going to damage anything. Pride events in London have evolved over the years, in ways seen as both positive and negative, but the message from Pride in London's organisers in is clear - Pride is not just a celebration, it is most definitely still a protest.

After decades of solidarity, it's fair to say there is an increasing number of people who feel the event has lost its way - that the culture around the Pride march and the rainbow flag doesn't represent them. The marches have continued to this day but now the hundreds of thousands of people who take to the streets are joined by celebrities, corporate sponsors and politicians.

Fifty years ago about 2, people took part in London's first official Lesbian and Gay Pride event, as part of a protest against how the police treated that community. Pride in London has evolved over the years, with some questioning its priorities. Nevertheless, the parades have also been a chance to celebrate change for the better.

The s were a remarkable era for health and scientific advancements, marked by incredible medical breakthroughs and astonishing scientific discoveries. More recent Pride events have centred on the rights of transgender people, including calls for reform of the Gender Recognition Act.

Recent government U-turns on banning conversion therapy for trans people will no doubt be a key protest point for In , days after a shooting in a bar in Florida in which 49 people died , London's Pride march went ahead with a more reflective feel than in years gone by.

The relationship between the LGBT community and the police has at times been a fraught one. There is now new leadership and with it a fresh vision, with those at the helm promising to learn lessons from the past and to return Pride to its activist roots. However, the message of fairness, equality and inclusivity has been a constant.

Now, they weren't there to protect us. While there have been several smaller Pride events throughout lockdown, there hasn't been an official Pride in London march in the capital since due to the Covid pandemic and the associated lockdowns. In March its advisory board resigned following a dispute about alleged institutional racism in the organisation, and later that year its co-chairs also stepped down.

Tributes were paid to the victims but there was also a show of defiance against people who wished the community harm. Last year, some of the original Gay Liberation Front protesters - including human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell - held a Reclaim Pride march.

From technological breakthroughs to global crises, these events have left an indelible mark on history. The s (pronounced "two-thousands"; shortened to the ' 00s and also known as the aughts or the noughties) was the decade that began on January 1, , and ended on December 31, In a discussion of potential names for the s, American author and journalist Walter Isaacson suggested the “Decade of Disruptions,” a reference to a series of particularly turbulent events.

You’ll see how these historic moments, fueled by globalization and burgeoning populations, have shaped your world today. Metropolitan Police officers weren't allowed to march in uniform until , while petitions by campaigners to stop police marching in future London Pride events followed the death of George Floyd in May While the first marches may have been held in defiance of politicians, it's somewhat different these days - every directly elected London mayor has attended Pride at some point.

Others have been dismayed at events that have taken place at Pride, including when members of the lesbian and feminist group Get The L Out gathered at the start of the parade in The actions of the protesters - described at the time as bigoted by Pride in London - reflected, though, that there are those who wish to separate the "LGB" from the "T", arguing that transgender rights can impinge on the rights of gay people, especially lesbians.

The feeling was that we had broken down a barrier that was put in front of us that said, 'you must not be out, you must not be seen'," he said. People like Andrew Lumsden, who attended the first London Pride march in , saw those events as the beginning of a huge change.

The same is expected on Saturday following recent events in Norway, where two people were killed and others were injured in an attack on an LGBT venue in Oslo. Since the last march, the make-up of Pride in London has changed. The s was a decade filled with transformation and monumental events that shaped the world we live in today.

A huge turnout is expected in central London, with some 40, organisations, businesses, charities and community groups represented on the march this year. This claim has been rejected by Pride in London organisers, who said corporate sponsorship covered a lot of the gathering's overheads, such as security and paying for road closures and insurance, meaning it could remain a free event.

On September 11, , terrorists attacked the United States, sparking lengthy wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. As the march has grown over the years, there have been fears among people within the community that Pride has lost its way - that corporate sponsorship has replaced the protest element of the event with an easy PR stunt for businesses.

In the s, Pride focused on the Aids crisis and the introduction of Section 28 , which saw the Conservative government of the day ban the promotion of homosexual lifestyles in schools. Mr Lumsden, who will be marching alongside some of the original Gay Liberation Front members this year, says it was also about defying the anti-gay establishment.

The first Lesbian and Gay Pride event in the UK, on 1 July was a relatively small affair, although its roots are in a gathering a few miles away in Highbury Fields held in November That autumn some members of the Gay Liberation Front GLF held a torchlight vigil to protest against police harassment of gay people.