[Simon Lamrock]

PRIDE in London will take over the West End tomorrow (Saturday) with the annual parade set to launch off from Hyde Park Corner, through Piccadilly Circus, down Haymarket and along Cockspur Street to Trafalgar Square, culminating at Whitehall Place.

Made up of hundreds of LGBTQ+ community groups, charitable and non-profit organisations and supportive businesses, the 2024 event will run from midday to 6pm.

There will be stages in Trafalgar Square, Leicester Square and Golden Square, Dean Street, Soho Square and a family area in Victoria Embankment.

The event for several years faced strong criticism over its ties with big business and abandon­ment of its political roots, in particular from Peter Tatchell who had led an alternative march that typically took place the day before.

But this year no such event appears to have been organised, and Mr Tatchell told me he would be going to the main event.

Earlier this year companies wanting to sponsor the event in London had to sign up to a year-round LGBTQ+ inclusion programme.

The move by parade organisers Pride in London was designed to tackle “pinkwashing”, or “rainbow washing”, when brands profit off their claims of LGBTQ+ allyship, but act differently in practice.

Businesses will now have to join the “Pride in the City” programme, which includes LGBTQ+ inclusion training on topics such as trans­gender and non-binary inclusion in the workplace.

The Daily Mirror, Tesco, CMS law firm and GayDio are the event’s main sponsors.

Coca Cola Zero sugar, Heart Foundation and The Independent are “silver sponsors”.

And bronze sponsors include Durex, PlayStation, Cisco, Just Eat, Lidl, IHG and Transport for London.

Women’s rights campaigners are planning to hold an alternative family fun day event for lesbians starting from around the Millicent Fawcett statue in Parliament Square on the same day as the main celebrations. Some lesbians feel they are not represented at the official Pride celebrations.