Lauren Moss
BBC LGBT & Identity Correspondent

Image source, BRIAN HART, CHE ARCHIVES, BISHOPSGATE INSTITUTE

In Trafalgar Square in 1972 a group of teenagers and young adults stood with placards on Nelson's Column, taking a stand to be proud of who they were.

They shouted chants like “5,6,7,8, gay is just as good as straight” - at a time when homosexuality was still classified as a mental illness and they faced arrest for kissing each other in the street. There was just a few hundred of them.

Today, Trafalgar Square is full of stages and big screens where around 30,000 people will march to and party, remembering what those young members of the Gay Liberation Front started half a century ago - a movement that is now held all over the UK and more than 100 countries.

Pride in 2022 is a celebration of the hard fought rights won in the LGBT community - civil partnerships, gay marriage, being allowed to serve in the military and the Equality Act. It’s become very commercial, with big businesses involved and rainbows banners everywhere, in what some feel takes away from what Pride stands for.

But at its heart it’s still a protest for equality and change. Homosexuality continues to be criminalised in about 70 countries, trans rights are fought over both within and outside of the community and the UK’s first global LGBT conference, which was due to coincide with 50 years of Pride, was cancelled earlier this year after many charities pulled out over the government’s position on a Bill to ban Conversion Therapy.

The Roe V Wade decision in the USA has many concerned about the potential scaling back of rights for LGBT people too, in the states and elsewhere hate crime and persecution is sadly a reality that many still face even in the 21st century.

In 1972 members of the Gay Liberation Front marched to be seen. They said they wanted to change society - not fit in with it.

Today they, along with tens of thousands of others, are marching again for that same opportunity.

As the Pride in London celebrations get under way, here's a flavour of what's going on as the parade sets off from Hyde Park Corner.

Image source, Reuters

Image source, PA Media

Image source, Reuters

People taking part in or watching today's Pride in London parade will no doubt see some of the one-hundred Pride flags that are hanging above Regent Street in central London. They are there to mark 50 years of Pride in the UK.

The colourful works feature a design by Valentino Vecchietti, who altered the previous Progress Pride flag to create the Intersex-Inclusive Pride flag.

The flag, which includes a yellow triangle and purple circle to reflect the intersex community, was adopted as the new Pride flag after going viral online.

Image source, PA

London's Mayor Sadiq Khan says today's Pride in London parade is a march for "love" and an "open, inclusive, accepting world".

He also says events in Norway's capital Oslo last week show there's still a "danger" to the LGBTQ+ community.

Two people were killed and 21 injured last Saturday after a gunman opened fire outside multiple city centre bars.

Khan says today's event is "for those in Oslo, for those who haven't made the progress we've made".

Crowds in rainbow colours have gathered for the 50th anniversary of the UK's first Pride parade.

People wearing face paint, glitter, jewels and sequins are taking part in today's Pride in London event.

Monica and Kit, who both live in London, say they’re here to show support and celebrate their friends from the LGBTQ+ community.

“I just see everybody enjoying themselves and being happy,” Kit says.

The first Pride parade in London for three years is about to get under way.

Some of the original members of the Gay Liberation Front will lead the march through the capital.

It will travel from Hyde Park Corner along Piccadilly to Piccadilly Circus, before turning right on to Haymarket, and continuing to Trafalgar Square where there will be live music and speeches.

It's due to finish at Whitehall Palace at 6pm.

Image source, PA Wire

Mohammed Nazir, 24, who is with campaign group Rainbows Across Borders, says he wants to dedicate this year's pride to those forced to still hide their sexuality.

Nazir says Pride is about "self-affirmation, dignity and equality", and it's a movement "where we're still fighting for our rights."

"It's all of the people's hard work and dedication that we are now not scared to express our true identity," he says adding there are still "so many countries where people are not able to express their true identity because of the country's law, because of the government's rule, or because of the cultures and disbelief."

He says he'd like to dedicate this Pride to "those people who are still hiding their sexuality and I would like to send them a message that we didn't choose to be gay, this is how we were born, and we should pride ourselves because being gay is a glitter, and if you hide your sexuality day by day you feel stress and you always feel a lack of confidence and lots of mental issues, and when you come out it will help you ... be who you are."

As we've been reporting, the first UK Pride march was held in London on 1 July 1972 - a date which was chosen as it was the nearest Saturday to the anniversary of the Stonewall riots of 1969.

Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, who helped organise the first march with the Gay Liberation Front, says the parade was the first in the world to use the term ‘Pride’.

“In the United States they called it Gay Liberation Day or Christopher Street Liberation Day, but we called it Pride,” he tells BBC’s Newsnight.

“That was going completely against the prevailing consensus. Society said we should be ashamed of being gay, so our idea was to give LGBT+ people a sense of confidence and self worth to banish that guilt and shame, and to be out and proud about who they were,” he says.

Pride in London is celebrating five decades of annual marches and festivities to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community.

About 2,000 people joined the first UK Gay Pride Rally, in London, on 1 July 1972 - the nearest Saturday to the third anniversary of the Stonewall riots against a police raid at a gay bar in Manhattan.

Now, more than one million celebrate Pride in the UK's capital - and there are events all over the world.

Here are some photos of Pride parades from the 70s, 80s and 90s.

Image source, BRIAN HART, CHE ARCHIVES, BISHOPSGATE INSTITUTE

Image source, ROBERT WORKMAN ARCHIVE, BISHOPSGATE INSTITUTE

Image source, GORDON RAINSFORD ARCHIVE, BISHOPSGATE INSTITUTE

Image source, GORDON RAINSFORD ARCHIVE, BISHOPSGATE INSTITUTE

See more images from Pride parades of the past here.

Fifty years ago Andrew attended the first Pride and he will be joined today by Kelvin, who is going for the first time.

Andrew was there at the start with the Gay Liberation Front and has been to many marches since 1972.

Andrew and Kelvin got together to talk about their individual experiences of coming out and being part of a community spanning generations.

Today’s Pride in London march, external will start from Hyde Park Corner at midday.

It will travel along Piccadilly to Piccadilly Circus, before turning right on to Haymarket, and continuing to Trafalgar Square. It's due to finish at Whitehall Palace at 6pm.

Over 600 LGBT+ community groups are expected to join the march which so far has 30,000 people registered overall.

The event will also feature a line-up of artists performing across four stages around central London.

Popstar Ava Max will close the show on the Trafalgar Square stage. Other performers in the line-up include Emeli Sande, Eurovision-winner Netta and Samantha Mumba.

Image source, PA

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage of Pride in London.

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the UK's first ever Pride parade, and it’s the first time the event has been held since the outbreak of the pandemic.

More than a million people are expected to be in the capital for the occasion, which organisers are calling the "biggest and most inclusive event in history".