Advertisement
Christmas Special - Get your first 12 issues for just £12
SUBSCRIBE
News

Pride 1972 veteran recreates photo from first march 50 years on

Then and now: Martin Kaufman at the first Pride in 1972 and on the 50th anniversary march in central London on Friday.

Left: Martin Kaufman (centre), a founder of the Reading Gay Alliance, on the original Pride march. Right: at the 1972 Pride veterans march with former Tory MP Eric Ollerenshaw (left). Image: Supplied/Greg Barradale

Exactly 50 years ago, activists gathered on the streets of central London for the first Pride march in the UK.

Organised by the Gay Liberation Front, over 700 protesters marched for their rights, faced by a heavy police presence.

Half a century to the day later, some of those who took part in the original march were at the front of a historic anniversary procession taking the original route along Oxford Street.

London’s Oxford Street during the first Pride in 1972. Image: Jamie Gardiner
London’s Oxford Street during the Pride 50th anniversary march. Image: Greg Barradale

Veterans of 1972 recalled the fear and excitement of that day, as well as the progress that has been made and the battles still being fought.

They were followed by a crowd young and old, with an open-top bus tailing.

Shoppers along Oxford Street we’re met with chants of: “Gay is good” and “Boris out, trans rights now“.

Advertisement
Advertisement

And, amid the noise, some found time to recreate photos from all that time ago.

Martin Kaufman was 24 when he marched in 1972. A founder of Reading Gay Alliance, he would also attend GLF meetings in All Saint’s Church in Notting Hill when in London.

Speaking at the march on Friday, he told The Big Issue: “There is no comparison [between the two marches]. Fifty years ago it was edgy, it was a bit apprehensive, but I am sure lots of other people were.

“It is something you had to do. But we had been on lots of demonstrations as GLF. It wasn’t as if we were particularly new marching in the streets. What was different is we were marching for gay rights full stop.

“When you are with a whole lot of people you have support, solidarity and love. And by the time we got to Hyde park it was fantastic actually.

“This is more chaotic!”

Advertisement

Change a vendor's life this Christmas

This Christmas, 3.8 million people across the UK will be facing extreme poverty. Thousands of those struggling will turn to selling the Big Issue as a vital source of income - they need your support to earn and lift themselves out of poverty.

Recommended for you

View all
'Where's the compassion?': Council refuses to give 11-year-old boy his father's ashes after funeral
Funeral poverty

'Where's the compassion?': Council refuses to give 11-year-old boy his father's ashes after funeral

DWP benefit reforms to get people into work are 'smokescreen for cuts', disability activist says
dwp secretary liz kendall
Disability benefits

DWP benefit reforms to get people into work are 'smokescreen for cuts', disability activist says

Ending post-Grenfell cladding crisis could take until 2035 and beyond: 'Unacceptably slow'
Grenfell tower
Cladding crisis

Ending post-Grenfell cladding crisis could take until 2035 and beyond: 'Unacceptably slow'

We've given 50,000 haircuts to homeless people – here's how a simple trim can change everything
Photo of man hugging a woman to illustrate a story about the Haircuts 4 Homeless charity
Homelessness

We've given 50,000 haircuts to homeless people – here's how a simple trim can change everything

Most Popular

Read All
Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits
Renters: A mortgage lender's window advertising buy-to-let products
1.

Renters pay their landlords' buy-to-let mortgages, so they should get a share of the profits

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal
Pound coins on a piece of paper with disability living allowancve
2.

Exclusive: Disabled people are 'set up to fail' by the DWP in target-driven disability benefits system, whistleblowers reveal

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over
next dwp cost of living payment 2023
3.

Cost of living payment 2024: Where to get help now the scheme is over

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know
4.

Strike dates 2023: From train drivers to NHS doctors, here are the dates to know