“Marking Pride” by Phillip Parker #randomdialogues
With thanks to Phillip Parker for this contribution to “Random Dialogues”⤵️
Today — 1 July — marks the 50th anniversary of the first Gay Pride march in a UK city. Called a ‘carnival parade’ of protest, it snaked its way from Hyde Park to Trafalgar Square, London, carrying placards and chanting slogans. The date was chosen as it was the nearest Saturday to the US Stonewall uprising date of 28 June 1969.
And to mark the anniversary Royal Mail issues Pride stamps today. These were about the final set of stamps I briefed before departing the postal service last year — and I can see a lot of work has gone into creating an 8-stamp celebration of LGBTQ+ life across the decades since that landmark march.
Back in 1972 numerous gay rights organisations took part in the march, and up to 500 people turned up to be counted, but it was heavily policed. The march was part of a week-long demonstrations and ‘Gay Ins’ for London Pride. In the 1980s Pride was galvanised as a vehicle to protest against Section 28 and to raise awareness and support for people with HIV / AIDS, like the first Manchester Pride in 1985. Today the Pride in London Parade is the biggest in the UK and seeks to be wholly inclusive of the LGBTQ+ community.
The stamps communicate joy and positivity and intend to be as inclusive as possible in showing a march through time, with attention to detail from the flags being flown to the clothing and tattoos, each being respectful to the identities featured. For instance, the trans flag is in the background of the third stamp.
US -based queer British artist Sofie Birkin was commissioned to create the illustrations, and she uses the bright colours that connect with the Pride flag, and the lettering echoes the visual language of banners and signs paraded through Pride marches.
The stamps are available online and at larger Post Offices from today. Pride — Special Stamp Issues (royalmail.com)
Today, veterans of the first Pride march will retrace the route of the original protest to mark the event’s 50th anniversary. The Pride in London Parade takes place tomorrow (2 July). 2022 Parade | Pride in London
A copy of this was also included in my weekly Random Dialogues newsletter, here.
Thanks for writing this Phillip, and thanks for reading reader(s).
