Pride in London events awarded £625,000 by City Hall

It is estimated that more than a million people saw London's most recent Pride parade

City Hall is to pay £625,000 to Pride in London to help deliver the capital's Pride celebrations over the next five years.

The organisation was chosen by a group of representatives from LGBT+ communities.

A community council will be created, along with an anti-racism plan and a stage for the trans community.

London mayor Sadiq Khan said he was "looking forward" to seeing the results of the group's "ambitious plans".

Non-profit organisation Pride in London has run previous Pride events in the city, with more than 150 of their volunteers working on a series of events each year.

Hundreds of organisations turned out to support the 50th London Pride parade in July, with more than a million people claimed to have attended events in the capital.

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Community-led organisations were invited to apply for the funding between July and September, and the winning bid was selected as a result of the open tender process.

The winning bid proposed funding would go towards the main parade, a series of events in Trafalgar Square, and awards to celebrate achievements across communities.

More than 600 LGBTQ+ community groups joined the most recent London Pride march

Mr Khan said: "London is a beacon of inclusiveness around the world, and that is in part due to the powerful impact that the Pride march of solidarity and celebration has had on our society over the last five decades."

Christopher Joell-Deshields, executive director of Pride in London, said: "Our dedicated team of volunteers look forward to engaging with LGBT+ communities to build better, ensuring that our platform amplifies national and global LGBT+ issues, celebrates our communities' successes and empowers LGBT+ individuals through our values of visibility, unity and equality. "

He added the date for the 2023 celebratory event would be announced "in the coming weeks".