Out@UCL at Pride in London and Black Pride – July 2019

68 UCL staff, students and alumni marched alongside attendees from Imperial College London and Brunel University, in the largest ever London Pride and Black Pride events on 6 and 7 July. Over 1.5 million people attended both events across the weekend.

This year, the pink Out@UCL t-shirt and flags featured a new and more inclusive design, including colours to represent LGBTQ+ people of colour and the Trans flag. Out@UCL organiser Noel Caliste, Co-Chair of the UCL LGBTG+ Equality Advisory Group (LEAG), said “Everyone was in great spirits throughout the hectic day… Unfortunately, our application for a float vehicle was declined by the London organisers, which meant that attendees with mobility requirements had some difficulty in attending. But there were a lot of people supporting us in the crowds, who recognised UCL.”

This year’s Black Pride was held in a new venue, Haggerston Park, and had a cohesive festival feel with a main stage and a well-being stage. Speakers included Lady Phyll (co-founder, trustee and executive director of UK Black Pride) and Diane Abbott MP – the theme of their talks was celebrating people of colour being able to stand together and having an inclusive place to celebrate Pride. Intersex activist Anick also gave a talk on Intersex 101: History and Futures, and UCL LEAG member Asma Ashraf, who organised the UCL visit to Black Pride, was interviewed by bloggers from The Coming Out Tapes about her experiences of being intersex. Asma said, “This was a special moment for me because we talk about lots of things at home and me being intersex is one of those and my daughter is taking this on board."

Out@UCL was kindly supported by COO Fiona Ryland to attend these events, and will also be attending Trans Pride in Brighton on July 20.  If you would like to join UCL at this event, we have a few spaces remaining – please email pride@ucl.ac.uk.