LONDON PRIDE 2017: BIG, LOUD & PROUD

LGBTQ+ community has come a long way in the last few decades as evident in my experience at Resist March, LA Pride and most recently-London Pride.

I flew to London for their Pride right after participating in this year’s unprecedented Resist March and LA Pride. I was fortunate to be a Resist March committee member, so I got to witness and experience the entire thing from beginning when it was just an idea by my friend Brian Pendleton to its denuma on Pride Sunday. Over 100,000 people, a coalition of hundreds of civic, non-profit and community organizations, activists, community leaders, high-profile politicians and celebrities marched down the streets of Hollywood and West Hollywood which garnered national and international media coverage.

I like Pride a lot. I came out of the closet a few weeks before LA Pride in 2001 and had the time of my life. And it has gotten better every year. In 2007, my friend and I went to several Prides across the country from San Diego to New York and ended our tour with Palm Springs’ in November. I was at Berlin and Köln Germany Prides in 2012 and thought that I’d seen it all. Every city’s Pride celebration is unique and special in its own way so I enjoy attending them for the first time.

This year, I wanted to see how the English show their pride, so I flew to London right after participating in this year’s unprecedented Resist March and LA Pride. I was fortunate to be a Resist March committee member, so I got to witness and experience the entire thing from beginning when it was just an idea by my friend Brian Pendleton to its denuma on Pride Sunday. Over 100,000 people, a coalition of hundreds of civic, non-profit and community organizations, activists, community leaders, high-profile politicians and celebrities marched down the streets of Hollywood and West Hollywood which garnered national and international media coverage.

PRIDE FOOTPRINT & FESTIVAL AREA
The ENTIRE city of London was celebrating Pride, not just Soho-London’s gayborhood. There was an overwhelming sense of pride and celebratory feel throughout the city with utter cohesion. Almost every civic building, national monument, skyscraper, corporate building was delicately lit in rainbow colors. I saw numerous rainbow flags, but aforementioned buildings were not simply slapped with a flag, rather painstakingly designed in unique ways.

THEME
They had a theme of “Love Happens Here” which was cohesively incorporated in everything-messaging, communications, signage, programming, sponsorship, decorations and overall feel. Government entities, corporations, tourist attractions, television channels, media companies, entertainment venues and small businesses had adopted Pride’s theme in their loud and proud declaration of support. Many entities had cleverly used the theme to come up with their own unique custom campaigns to avoid cookie-cutter messaging.

VISIBLE SPONSORS
Quite a few corporations such as Starbucks, H&M and Enterprise (rent-a-car) that are supporters of the LGBTQ community in the USA had gone much further in their unequivocally visible support. They, along with many others, had adopted London Pride 2017 theme, Love Happens Here, in their campaigns with signage, banners and decorations in ALL their stores and branches-NOT just in the “gay areas”.