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Pride in London 2018 was our best yet

Here's what we got up to in the Pride in London celebrations last weekend.

By
Civil Service LGBT+ Network
Published
12 July 2018

On 7 July 2018, we took part in Pride in London’s annual celebrations and parade. This year was our best yet.

Our best group yet – and the most in demand

This year, we had 120 civil servants join us in the parade. More than 2,000 people tried to get a place in the group this year: and we had hundreds on our waiting list for extra places.

Our parade group at Pride in London

We were joined by 4 Permanent Secretaries on the day:

  • Richard Heaton from the Ministry of Justice
  • Sue Owen from the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport
  • Clare Moriarty from the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
  • Antonia Romeo from the Department of International Trade

Having the support of senior leaders across government is incredibly important. It means that we can demonstrate the open and inclusive environment we want to see in every part of the Civil Service in one of the most visible ways possible.

For the first time in more than 5 years, we also had a float as part of our parade group.

Photos from the day

We’ve put a lot of the photos we took from the day on Flickr. If you’ve got more photos you’d like to share, send them to us.

Look at the photos on Flickr

Thank yous

We’d like to thank the Government Equalities Office, Cabinet Office Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Team, Department for International Trade and Government Legal Department for their support in making this year’s parade group happen.

We’d also like to thank Dan, Jessica, Louis, Rebecca, Rob and Yiannis who acted as our “wheel walkers” for our float. Without them, the float wouldn’t have happened!

Thanks also to Sonia and Laurence from the Cabinet Office who designed our ‘Inclusive Civil Service’ placards and banners for the day.

And of course thank you to everyone else who attended, either in the parade group or on the route cheering us on. You made the day extra special for us all.

What we will do differently next time

Whilst we had a great time, there are a few things we are already considering doing differently for next year.

We are delighted that so many people want to take part in our London parade groups. Unfortunately, due to restrictions put in place by Pride in London to ensure safety on the day, it’s not possible for everyone to be part of our group, but we continue to look at better ways to ensure a fairer allocation of spaces. Whilst we do regularly take part in pride events across the UK, we will look again to take part in a larger number of parades outside London next year, so that more people get the chance to take part.