The usual Pride in London celebrations were postponed this year due to coronavirus, but the capital still managed to show its support for LGBTQ rights on what would have been Pride weekend.
Pride in London took over the famous Piccadilly Lights on Saturday for a virtual parade featuring images from past marches and messages of LGBTQ solidarity.
Another famous London landmark, the BT Tower, broadcast the names of LGBTQ community groups high above the London skyline.
We’re LIVE at Piccadilly Lights 💖#YouMeUsWe https://t.co/KTDzVFKWux
— Pride in London (@PrideInLondon) June 27, 2020
For obvious reasons, Pride in London's massive and somewhat controversial annual parade, which attracted 1.5 million people last year, wasn't able to take place this year.
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However, demonstrators still turned out for a peaceful Black Trans Lives Matter march which began at Wellington Arch at 2pm and concluded with speeches at Downing Street at 3pm.
Protesters wearing masks carried flesh flowers and held placards saying "black trans lives matter", "teach colonial history in schools" and "fight police brutality! fight racism! fight imperialism!"
The march was organised by London Trans Pride, which wrote on Instagram ahead of the protest: "Fighting for black lives must include black trans lives. The UK government's planned transphobic legislation [will] disproportionately affect black trans people and black trans women especially. "
The organisers added: "Black trans women are being murdered at an alarming rate, most recently Dominique Rem’mie Fells and Riah Milton, due to the combined violence of racism and transphobia."
Elsewhere in central London, longtime LGBTQ activist Peter Tatchell walked the usual Pride in London route to call for an end to the government's deportation of LGBTQ asylum seekers.
According to the BBC, he was joined by 12 surviving activists from the Gay Liberation Front (GLF), a pro-LGBTQ rights organisation which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.
Pride protest power! Not one but two gatherings in London to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Pride. Commemorating 50 years of the Gay Liberation Front in the UK as thousands gather to highlight violence against trans people of colour. #GLF #BlackTransLivesMatter #Pride #LGBTQIA pic.twitter.com/7U1epKxHYV
— Cliff Joannou (@CliffJoannou) June 27, 2020
Tatchell told the Press Association: "We are seeking to reclaim Pride as an event for LGBT+ human rights. We hope that our protest will encourage people to remember the long, difficult struggle for LGBT+ rights and remember that here in Britain, and around the world, there are still battles to fight and win."
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