People's Pride Archive
Share your memories of Pride and help us to create the People’s Pride Archive
Fifty years of Pride in the UK
2022 is a significant year for LGBTQ+ history in the UK as we celebrate and reflect on 50 years of Pride. Since the first Pride in 1972, the scale and definition of what Pride can be has continued to expand.
Pride means something different to us all – from a call to arms and time to unite in protest, to a celebration and party with friends and allies. The queer experience is wildly diverse, and there are as many ways to celebrate Pride as there are identities within the community.
The People’s Pride Archive
We need your help to create the People’s Pride Archive.
As we commemorate the 50th anniversary of the UK's first Pride march we are collecting photos and stories of Pride through the decades.
We want to give a home to your photographs and stories relating to Pride, creating a dedicated archive that celebrates the struggles and celebrations of the past 50 years.
Pride is about people, and we want to record the excitement and the adventure, the highs and the lows, the laughter and the tears, the bravery and the defiance. It can be heartfelt, it can be powerful, or it could just be about a certain someone you finally managed to kiss – it’s whatever Pride means to you; however you want to share it.
And we’re not only interested in the big events, such as those in London, Brighton or Manchester. Whether it’s a party in your back garden, balcony or street, a memory from the 80s or 90s or from a recent Trans Pride or UK Black Pride, your story matters.
Please add your stories and photographs to the archive so they can empower, inspire and educate future generations.
At Bishopsgate Institute we are open to all, and every story matters. So, whether it’s a memory from your first Pride, or a photo from a memorable year please share it with us.
The People's Pride Gallery
Image gallery
A gallery slider
Rachel Smith, Pride in London, 2013 - This is a photo of me and my wife at Pride in London, 2013. This was the first time we marched in Pride together as a couple, which was very special. Later that summer we got married, having decided to wait until the Marriage Act was passed (in England and Wales). As you can see, we were quite pleased with ourselves.
James Sizen Bell – London Pride, 2018 - So, it was through Rugby… The Kings Cross Steelers invited my rugby team at the time (The Berkshire Unicorns) to join them in the parade. I got totally leathered and after throwing myself at about 25 of the other Steelers, this shit finally stuck to Tom… whilst queuing on Great Portland Street waiting for the parade to start… it was very romantic. I was a total mess!
Simon Hetherington, Manchester Pride, Drunk at Vogue, 2017 - I have an odd relationship with Pride, having volunteered for Pride in London for 3 years. Thankfully I'd abandoned ship before all the accounts of clear racism, classism, cronyism etc within the organisation surfaced. Pride's raison d'être is to honour, celebrate and support the LGBTQ+ community by bringing people together - Pride in London only represented and served a very small, white, privileged fraction of our community. In the first meeting I attended I remember thinking "Why is everyone so posh and white" but I had a really strong commitment to the cause so I pursued my volunteer work nevertheless. In that role I was responsible for promoting the organisation and its events across all types of media, and I still feel guilty about playing a part in something so problematic. What doesn't help is that prior to that I organised a big tech company's presence in the parade, so have contributed to some quite shameful elements of pride from the inside and out. However, I adore pride when it's done properly - authentically representing and serving our LGBTQ+ family and bringing people together. Black pride in 2019, Trans Pride last year, Love Party in Manchester are just a few examples of that, and inevitably they have formed some of my favourite, most glorious pride moments.
Paul Anderton - Regent Street, London 2019 - Paul shares the story of an argument he had with a close friend about the commerciality of modern Pride. He argues that as a boy growing up in Blackpool in the 1990s, where the gay scene was dark and underground, as a 15 year old, he would have marvelled at the corporate recognition of Pride, and he may not have been so afraid. Though he understands the financial nature of Pride branding, he argues that it may still help those who don't have access to a thriving scene.
Rachel Sparks, 2010 - This is me and my friend Jules from Pride 2010 when we marched with the Pink singers LGBT choir. This is one of my first Prides and I loved the atmosphere, I felt almost famous with the cheering crowds. In my time in the choir we visited places like Malta where, at the time, our presence as a queer choir wasn’t welcome. We doubled their numbers at their march and many people in the LGBT community didn’t feel safe to be out. This contrast showed me that Pride is a protest and remains important for communities who still fight for their human rights.
Ez Little, Brighton Trans Pride 2019 - This picture of me and my close friend Meg was taken at Brighton Trans Pride 2019. This was my first Trans Pride event after coming out a few months beforehand. I marched with the Queer AF collective in Brighton, who I had met at an alternative London Pride march that same summer - we bonded over our anger at the corporatisation of London Pride and hatred for rainbow capitalism. I am wearing the same outfit I wore for most of my first year out as trans, as I was still trying to figure out my sense of style (and I still am!). It was the first time I had been surrounded by other trans people for a whole day, and that feeling of coming home to my community has stayed with me.
Wouter Den Haan - 1993. Protest has always been a part of pride. This is from the 1993 "March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay, and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation" with 800,000-1million participants. One of the best weekends of my life. Proudly facing the then always present religious bigots with my friend Ray.
Tony Bird - London Pride, 1994. First time in drag. I made the costume myself. I had this photo framed in my flat when my parents visited. On returning from the bathroom my rather naive Mother commented: "You know, there's a picture of a woman in there who looks just like me when I was younger." Gordon Rainsford took the photo - it was liberated from Capital Gay after they published it.
Cliff Docherty - Pride 2012. This is a pic of me and my best friend, the artist Alexandre Santacruz at Pride in 2012, wearing a couple of his t-shirt designs. I love this pic because it’s part of a series where we're just totally losing our reason, to the point of actually crying with laughter. Behind the really serious message of Pride, which is never far from our minds, it’s also the one day when you can laugh without fear, be yourself, be daring and for a somewhat timid soul like me, go a little further than you normally would. And perhaps that makes you braver in other areas of your life. And what were we laughing at? It’s so stoopid. Another friend took my camera and said OK, one of you turn your back and one face the camera so we can see both sides of the shirt, now smile. So, I'm facing away, and I muttered I don't know why I'm smiling. And that was it. We didn't just lose the plot, we lost the whole mini-series. And I love this pic. It's Pride, its friendship, its self-expression, it's art.
Kerry Deakin – London Pride, 2014. This photo is of myself at London Pride on Shaftsbury Avenue 2014, taken by a friend after the shop we were in gave us the shop window flag.
Paula Griffin, Trans Pride, June 26 2021 - The first Trans Pride after the pandemic & my "debut" after announcing to the world in February that year via the magic of Twitter. Earlier that month I'd joined Goal Diggers, a football club for all women and non binary people, & to have my new teammates marching alongside me in solidarity was one of the most incredible feelings of my life. The attendance was totally overwhelming as was the support along the route with the applause & shouts of encouragement drowning out any snide comments. A day that will remain with me for a long time to come.
Will Roberts, Mancheter Pride, 1999 - This photo is actually from Manchester Pride 2001, as I have no pics from 1999 – my first Pride. Seeing as I went by myself and had no gay friends, it’s amazing the difference a couple of years can make. My first Pride I was 17 and just itching to explode out of the closet, so I secretly got the train to Manchester. I didn’t know anyone, so I kind of just bumbled around the Saturday daytime crowds, but the sense of belonging I had was overwhelming. I ended up by a small stage, and on it was Mark, a boy who had been a few years older than me at school. Earlier that year he’d been crowned Mr Gay UK. We interacted briefly, and I think he was surprised to see me there. As the day wore on, I had to pull myself away and get the train home. At the station I bought a copy of the Gay Times that Mark was on the cover of – this will come back later. The train back to Blackpool was filled with queer people. It was a sunny day, and in my memory the carriage was filled with golden light and laughter, with Pride attendees marked by their purple wristbands. At one point a group of scallies started giving abuse to a gay couple in matching sailor outfits. A drag queen at the far end caught wind of the attack and stomped down the carriage. They pointed at the scallies and bellowed, ‘There’s more of us than there is of you in this carriage, so fuck off!’. And with that, the scallies sheepishly got up and left the carriage, whilst the rest of us cheered. I couldn’t stop smiling all the way home. Oh, and the Gay Times? My mum found it in my room a few months later, which facilitated one of the easiest and most loving coming outs imaginable. All thanks to Pride…in a roundabout sort of way.
Bishopsgate Institute is possibly the largest (definitely the most accessible) LGBTQ+ Archive in the UK, holding archives from Stonewall, Switchboard, GMFA/The Gay Men's Health Charity, ACT UP London, Outrage!, Campaign for Homosexual Equality and material relating to the Terrence Higgins Trust, Boyz and QX magazines. We also hold records of individuals including Paris Lees, Robert Workman, Hazell Dean, Gordon Rainsford, Peter Tatchell, and many others…but we are also passionate about how important all of our histories are and welcome donations from anyone who wants to document their own LGBTQ+ history.
To be a part of the People's Pride Archive, all you need to do is select the tab below which will take you to a form. Provide your story, upload a picture, fill out your details and preferences, and you're good to go!
Image: Gordon Rainsford, 1994
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