Pride!

Yesterday was London's annual LGBTQ+ Pride parade, which I attended with my friend Chris from work. I haven't been to Pride in a couple of years -- not since 2022 -- so it was good to go back and get my dose of flamboyance and feathers!

Pride offers possibly the best photography opportunities of any event all year. Everyone's there to see and be seen, from the relatively understated...

...to the most elaborately costumed. This person had a whole Ukraine-themed thing going on which definitely wins points for creativity.

I took 528 pictures, of which I selected 77 for a closer look. Of those, you're getting nine (plus a video). So hopefully this is the crème de la crème.

As usual I was impressed with the diversity of the crowd and the participants. There were marchers of all ages, races, abilities and genders, marchers representing asylum seekers, gay Christian Africans, sports teams, corporations, theater productions, "dykes on bikes," you name it.

We had a bit of excitement when some pro-Palestinian protesters threw red paint on a truck and glued themselves to it, causing the parade to stop for about an hour. Chris and I didn't know what was going on -- only that there was a massive gap in parade activity. Fortunately there was plenty of fun people-watching to be done.

There were also several pro-Palestine and "two-state solution" contingents in the parade itself.

And of course the usual array of incredibly daring and clever and unusual outfits. The gays do know how to put on a show.

As I said, even the spectators were pretty entertaining.

There was also a lot of attention given to trans rights, following a controversial Supreme Court ruling in England earlier this year. (You can click the link for details of the ruling.)

We did see a few celebrities, including actress Vanessa Williams and singer/actor Olly Alexander, who stood within about a foot of me. (I didn't realize who he was until Chris pointed it out after he moved on.)

During another lengthy parade delay, we happened to be standing near the contingent from the Royal Navy, who at first were very military in their restrained presentation. An announcer nearby, desperate to create some entertainment while the parade stalled, put on the Village People's song "In the Navy," which got those sailors grooving. They followed that with a performance of "YMCA" (above).

Afterwards Chris and I made our way through Soho to a couple of the performance stages, ending our day in Trafalgar Square. The shot above shows the crowds in Old Compton Street, the center of gay life in London in years past.

Happy Pride, everyone!