With this year being the 50th anniversary of the UK’s very first Pride parade, we at Impactful Governance think that its only right that we take a look at how Pride in the UK came to be and how it’s important as a celebration and as a protest. The first widely-recognized American gay rights organisation was based in Chicago. Named the Society for Human Rights, it was founded by a German emigrant named Henry Gerber in 1924.

 

On Saturday the 1st of July 1972 the first ever UK Pride parade was held in London. It was the first protest of its kind and the parade made it’s way from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square. The organisers chose this date specifically, because it was the closest Saturday to the Stonewall riots that took place on the 28th of June 1969. The parade saw the attendance of over 200 people as well as numerous organisations like the Gay Liberation Front (GLF). The protest was the culmination of a weeks’ worth of protests for Gay rights for London Pride. Though the parade was heavily policed, it was a monumental step forward in the early Pride movement of the UK.

 

While not born of protest, Hertfordshire Pride is just as important as any of the other larger Pride celebrations across the Country. The event was a result of two years of discussions held by the Hertfordshire LGBTQ+ Partnership, an organisation made up of public authorities and private organisations. The first Hertfordshire Pride was held in the summer of 2013 at Cassiobury Park in Watford and was hailed as a great success, so much so that it has continued to be held pretty much every year with a short period in Hemel Hempstead. This year will be the 10th Herts’ Pride and it will once again be in Watford. It will take place on the 20th of August at Cassiobury Park and is arguably the biggest celebration of the LGBTQ+ community across the county.

 

Celebrations such as these are important because not only are they a safe space where we people can be their true, authentic selves and express who we love without judgement but it also highlights just how far we (as a community) have come. For years the celebration of Pride has been intrinsically linked with the act of protest. In fact, throughout History the celebration of LGBTQ+ Pride has been used as a way to protest the erosion of our rights. A prime example of this is a Pride march that took place on the 30th of April 1988. This march was a direct response to the implementation of Section 28, a series of laws that forbad the promotion of homosexuality by local authorities in schools across the UK.

 

Thus far there is no Pride Parade in Watford although the Pride event is well attended. Pride parades are so important and we would love to see the parade take shape in the coming months as we begin discussions with community organisations and Watford Borough Council to make the town centre more inclusive and vibrant. The use of Pride marches as a protest played a significant role in getting our community where it is today. We can credit our previous and ongoing progress to the protesters who are willing to step up and fight for our rights. As a community that has been discriminated against and abused for centuries, it’s only right that we should be able to openly celebrate who we love and our gender expression. After all, how can we expect to normalise something if we don’t celebrate how it is completely natural? That is why the use of Pride as a protest and as a celebration is so essential to our community. It acts as a push for change and shows that the LGBTQ community has always existed, will continue to exist and normalising is the way forward for everyone.

 

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