Pride in London - live: Dame Kelly Holmes and Emily Sandé join capital’s biggest march

Good morning, and Happy Pride Day! Welcome to The Independent’s live coverage of all things Pride today.

Planning to join or watch the Pride in London march today? Here’s everything you need to know:

As Pride in London celebrates 50 years since the very first march was held in 1972, Sabrina Barr takes a look back at how the event has evolved over the years.

More than a million people are expected to descend on the capital for Pride in London on Saturday.

It will be the first time the event has been held since the outbreak of the pandemic and is the 50th anniversary of the UK’s first ever Pride parade.

The event, which organisers are calling the “biggest and most inclusive event in history”, will also feature a line-up of artists performing across four stages around Central London.

The stars of Celebrity Gogglebox were left in tears after watching the coming out scene from Big Boys.

Friday (1 July) night’s episode of the Channel 4 series was a Pride special and saw a group of LGBTQ+ celebrities and their loved ones tune into the week’s biggest shows.

Our Culture Reporter Isobel Lewis has the story:

The Pride in London parade will begin at 12pm, and many marchers are getting ready for the day of celebration, protest and solidarity ahead.

See photographs of volunteers and activists preparing to let their rainbow flags fly:

A mosque in Berlin has said that it is the first German mosque to fly the rainbow flag in support of LGBT+ communities, as Pride begins.

The Ibn Rushd-Goethe mosque, which claims to be the only “liberal” mosque in the country, unfurled the symbolic flag in front of a small audience on Friday (1 July).

Berlin’s culture senator Klaus Lederer and state chairman Kai Wegner were present for the ceremony, where attendees wore badges with the slogan: “Love is halal.”

Mohammed Nazir, 24, from Bangladesh, who is with campaign group Rainbows Across Borders, said he wanted to dedicate this year’s pride to those forced to still hide their sexuality.

He told the PA news agency: “Pride is about self-affirmation, dignity and equality. It is a way to meet some other LGBTQ people. Pride is a movement where we’re still fighting for our rights.”

He added: “It’s all of the people’s hard work and dedication that we are now not scared to express our true identity, but still there are 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.

“So, this Pride I would like to dedicate 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.”

Labour deputy leader Angela Rayner has tweeted her support for Pride in London.

She posted a photograph of herself at a previous Pride parade, and said she is “looking forward” to this year’s event.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has made an appearance at Pride in London, ahead of the parade.

He said: “We’re back after the last two and a half years or so. This year is the 50th anniversary of Pride, celebrating this community, celebrating the progress made, but also continuing to campaign and never be complacent.

“We saw this time last week an attack in Oslo just hours before that parade, where two people lost their lives and more than 20 were injured.

“So, we’ve got to be conscious of the fact that there’s still a danger to this community of discrimination, bias and violence. But allies like me are really important to support this community.”

“I’m quite clear, we’re marching today for an open, inclusive accepting world. We’re marching today for those in Oslo, for those who haven’t made the progress we’ve made.

“We’re also marching today for love. I’m quite clear, here in this great city we should be a beacon of inclusiveness, of openness, but also a place where you can be free to be who you want to be and free to love who you want to love.”

Khan added that the Metropolitan Police have been “sensitive” over concerns about uniformed officers taking part in the parade.

“I think it’s really important that anybody who’s from the LGBT community should be able to take part in this parade,” he said.

“Clearly, the community does have concerns around policing, we saw with the Stephen Port investigation the concerns that arose from the inquest and from the families of the four men who lost their lives.

“I think the police have been sensitive to the issues raised by the community and there will be uniformed officers in and around Pride to make sure we’re all safe, to make sure this parade is a success.

“But, clearly, those taking part in the parade from the police service won’t be wearing the uniforms.”