Westminster Council and Met Police sting London Pride organisers with huge bills as the Pride Parade in London is strangled with bureaucratic restrictions.
PETER Tatchell says todays London Pride parade will be one of the smallest in the western world, alleging red tape is strangling the event.
The Mayor of London, Westminster Council and the Metropolitan Police have placed a 30,000 limit on the number of people who can march in todays London Pride parade.
Over 50,000 people applied to march but, of those, 20,000 were told they couldn’t march with only a fraction of those who wanted to participate being allowed to do so.
“If there was no limit, 100,000 people would march, like in the 1990s,” said Peter Tatchell, a co-pioneer of Pride, patron of Pride and Director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation.
“The limit on the size of Pride feels like anti-LGBT+ discrimination. There are no similar restrictions placed on the numbers at the Notting Hill Carnival, which is many times larger than Pride.
Dublin, with only a population of just a million people, had 60,000 people march at their Pride event last Sunday. London, with a population over eight times larger, will have half that number marching today. Tatchell claims this is a LGBT+ and national embarrassment.
He says: “Sadiq Khan is a good Mayor, so it pains me to be critical.
“The size and spontaneity of the parade is being strangled by regulations, bureaucracy, red-tape and the unreasonable dictates of the city authorities.
“LGBT+ organisations have to apply three months in advance, pay a fee and get wristbands for all their participants. The parade feels increasingly regimented, commodified and straight-jacketed.
“The authorities are enforcing punitive costs for road closures, pavement barriers, policing and security citing safety concerns and the disruptive impact on West End businesses if the parade is allowed to be bigger. It seems that commerce comes first.”
Over 50,000 people marched in support of the NHS on June 30. Organisers did not have to pay a penny in costs.
Tatchell continues: “The current parade set up needs commercial sponsorship to pay for it but corporate floats now dominate the event. They’ve got the money, so they have huge extravagant floats that outshine and overwhelm the LGBT+ community groups. The parade looks like an almost endless motorcade of corporate promotion. Many of the companies have degayed their floats. They don’t mention LGBT+, just Pride.”
“The dedicated, tireless Pride committee is held over a barrel. They might be permitted to increase the numbers on the parade but only if they stump up loads more cash to the council and police. Westminster council seems to think that the democratic right of LGBT+ communities to use its streets should come at a price. It even demands compensation for the suspension of parking bays!
“Royal Parks is no better. They won’t allow Pride to use Hyde Park. We are being shafted.
“Compared to 20 years ago, Pride has been dumbed down. For many people, it is now mostly a gigantic street party. Big corporations see it as a PR opportunity to fete LGBT+ consumers with their flashy floats. The ideals of LGBT+ equality are barely visible. Last year I counted only ten parade groups with a LGBT+ human rights message on the London Pride parade.
“If Pride has gone adrift, we are all partly to blame for not being more involved with the organising committee and not standing up to the city authorities. Perhaps it’s time to revert to the LGBT+ liberation ethos of the first UK Pride in 1972?
Mr Tatchell was one of the organisers back then and has marched in every Pride London parade since. This will be his 47th.
He continues: “1972 was a carnival march for LGBT+ human rights. It was political and fun; without all the restrictions, costs and red tape that are strangling Pride today.
“It’s time to put liberation back at the heart of Pride; to reclaim it as a political march with a party atmosphere. No limits on numbers and no motorised floats. This would dramatically cut costs and bureaucracy; and return Pride to its roots. We can still have a fabulous carnival atmosphere. It worked in 1972. Why not now?” queried Mr Tatchell.
Police and councils to not charge any fees for protest marches.
In February this year, organiser of Brighton Pride published a new set of standards to maintain the integrity of Brighton’s community parade to ensure that floats and entries from business partners or brands supporting Brighton Pride celebrate inclusion and diversity or achievements, culture and aspirations of those belonging to their LGBT+ staff networks.
The standards highlight that floats, banners, t-shirts, flags or any form of messaging in the Brighton Pride parade must include specific messages of support for diversity and inclusivity whilst rejecting consumer promotions, generic branding or marketing messages.
Entries to Brighton Pride parade this year are only permitted if they show what the sponsor/parade entry believes or wants to stand for and that these messages are also featured across their social media platforms when highlighting Brighton Pride.
Mayor household brands failing to achieve these standards will not be allowed on the Brighton Pride parade on August 4.
Policing and security costs at Brighton Pride this year will cost organisers over £400,00
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