lgbtq

Trans Pride 2026

You know you live in an incredible world city if, when you turn on your computer in the morning you learn that a huge trans pride march is happening in town that afternoon, only to find yourself at the heart of it about three hours later. That is exactly what happened to me today. I had initially assumed that it would just be an interesting way to spend my Saturday: I could go and just make a few observations for a blog entry. As soon as I got there though, I found myself being swept along with the entire march.

It’s not that I don’t care about trans rights: Lyn, the most important person to me ever, was transgender. What I found myself caught up in this afternoon, however, was truly puzzling. It was overtly political in a manner I would not have expected: half the chants the protesters made were about Palestine. While there were obviously plenty of people there who identified as trans, this was trans in its widest, broadest sense, resulting in quite a vast array of people and groups being represented. I thus got the impression that the event meant so many things to so many people, that some of its overall meaning may have been lost.

Even so, I love how London has the awesome habit of turning out all these wonderful surprises. This morning I was reconciling myself to yet another quiet Saturday; but this afternoon I found myself surrounded by all kinds of wonderful, exotic people. While I admit that one or two of their demands, such as for free, over the counter HRT treatments, struck me as slightly ill-advised, there was an overall atmosphere of welcome and acceptance. As with the gay pride march I checked out a couple of weeks ago, this is definitely the sort of thing London is good at.

Pride 2025

It has been an afternoon which has simply reinforced my now deep conviction that London is the greatest, most awesome city on earth. A couple of days ago, I of course heard that the annual pride march was this weekend, so I thought I would head up there to check it out. You know how fascinated I am by such big cultural events. To be honest, as I headed into central London this morning, I had my political head on, wondering how much evidence I might find of the kind of cultural intrusion or usurpation I often get so wound up about. However, as soon as I got to the pavement of Piccadilly, it became clear that such concerns were totally and utterly irrelevant. If what I saw today was about anything, it was about inclusion and the celebration of diversity; politics had nothing to do with it.

Having said that, the march started slightly late apparently due to some sort of protest, but when it got going I was almost instantly overwhelmed by the energy and vibrancy of what I was watching. Thousands of people, all cheering and whooping, but above all expressing love for one another. The procession was formed of groups of people representing organisations around London. There was a vast array, but they all had an LGBT aspect, giving the afternoon a feeling of variety and diversity, but also solidarity and unity. What better metaphor could there be for London as a whole?

Apart from the last time I went to Pride, I have never seen anything like it: the feelings of warmth, compassion and friendliness were palpable. As usual I got chatting with a few people and made a few friends. One man even gave me a fabulous rainbow cowboy hat, completely at random! At about four I headed home, but as I rode the Elizabeth line back, covered in rainbows and stickers, I decided that today certainly wouldn’t be my last Pride.