London Eye and Wembley Arch go rainbow for Pride

Wembley’s arch and the London Eye will both light up in rainbow colours this weekend for the first time ever in celebration of the annual Pride in London festival.

This year’s Pride in London is set to be a record-breaker with over 250 community groups, charities, businesses and organisations signed up to take part in the parade – 20% of them new to Pride this year.

Last year’s celebrations attracted over 700,000 visitors to central London who came to London to see the annual Parade and enjoy the celebrations throughout Soho and the West End, with 10,000 people enjoying entertainment in Trafalgar Square’s main stage. It’s anticipated that this year’s figure will be closer to 950,000 – making Pride in London the biggest Pride celebration in the country.

The theme of this year’s Pride Parade is ‘Pride Heroes’ celebrating individuals who have contributed to LGBT+ rights over the years.

“It’s incredible to see how Pride in London has grown over the last three years to quickly become the biggest Pride event in the country. The annual Pride Parade now includes over 250 groups representing the incredible diversity of London’s LGBT+ community. And this year’s Parade theme #PrideHeroes will ensure this is the most colourful and exhilarating Parade the city has ever seen,” said Pride in London Chairman Michael Salter.

As part of the #PrideHeroes campaign, participants and members of London’s LGBT+ community, including its straight allies, are being asked to nominate their own Pride Heroes, from the famous to the unsung, and to share their suggestions via the hashtag #PrideHeroes.

Shaun Dellanty, a deputy head teacher and founder of Inclusion For All which tackles homophobia in schools and other organisations, features in the advertising campaign and is nominated as a Pride Hero.

“As someone who walked out of state education system in 1987 due to years of sustained homophobic bullying with the full intention of ending my life, it’s unacceptable to me that a student could be experiencing the same homophobia today. I wrote and set-up Inclusion for All as a training programme to be delivered in my school and today is has a global reach. Pride is absolutely still relevant today. The day I saw my first Pride Parade in 1996 was the day I accepted myself finally,” says Shaun.

More Pride info: To book Exclusive Gay Travel packages visit Marriottweekends.co.uk/pride