{"id":7080,"date":"2017-03-28T09:57:31","date_gmt":"2017-03-28T09:57:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/?p=7080"},"modified":"2017-03-27T13:59:10","modified_gmt":"2017-03-27T13:59:10","slug":"pride-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/re-photo.co.uk\/?p=7080","title":{"rendered":"Pride 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I first photographed Pride<\/em> back in 1992 and since then I think I’ve been every year except 2005 when I was out of the country, but I was wondering whether I could be bothered in 2016. It really has become so much of a corporate and commercial event that it has lost much of the interest it had for me. This year was the first for many that I didn’t bother to apply for accreditation, which given the large crowds and strict control of the procession and main events by stewards and police makes covering the event rather easier.<\/p>\n

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I’m not a great believer in accreditation for events. It often seems to be a way of controlling access to a small group of people known to the organisers – often including many who don’t have a press card. But at least accreditation for Pride is straightforward and I’ve never been refused when I have applied, unlike a few other events. But generally I feel a press card should be enough – and even that is usually unnecessary for the kind of events I want to cover and the way I like to cover them.<\/p>\n

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In\u00a0the end I decided to go again largely because Movement for Justice had organised a Migrant Rights & Anti-Racist Pride march to join the main Pride event. They gathered on Oxford St, a smallish group including London in Solidarity with Istanbul LGBTI Pride, Lesbians and Gays Support the Migrants and others who feel as I do that ‘ the official event has been taken over by corporate sponsors such as Barclays and BAE systems and is a parade rather than a protest, no longer representing its roots.’<\/p>\n

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And they joined on the main Pride march at the end, where other political groups are generally marginalised. As they moved forwards to join in the march I walked back to the tube and left.<\/p>\n

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You can see some of my pictures from Pride in 1993-2002 in\u00a0Ten Years of Pride<\/a>\u00a0based on the\u00a0 work shown\u00a0as a part of the exhibition Queer is Here<\/strong> at the Museum of London, Feb 2006 and touring.<\/p>\n

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More text and pictures:
\nPride London 2016<\/a>
\nMigrant Rights & Anti-Racist Pride<\/a>
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