UK celebrates a decade of NYC Pride
British Consulate General New York celebrates its 10-year anniversary supporting LGBT+ Pride in NYC
- The British Consulate General New York celebrated its 10-year anniversary supporting LGBT+ Pride in New York this month
- The UK was the first ever foreign government to officially participate in the NYC Pride March, first entering a float in 2013
- British Deputy Consul General, Hannah Young, joined Consulate colleagues on the UK float in Sunday’s march
The UK officially celebrated NYC Pride for a 10th consecutive year this month (June 2023), represented by the British Consulate General New York.
The UK has long been at the forefront of promoting LGBTQ+ rights globally, and in 2013 became first ever foreign government to formally participate in New York’s Pride March, which is the largest of its kind in North America, and ranks among the largest Pride events in the world.
The event commemorates the first gay rights march, held in NYC on 28 June 1970, which celebrated the first anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising - a series of protests by members of the gay community in 1969 that transformed the 20th century fight for LGBT+ rights in the United States.
The British Consulate’s float at this year’s march featured Union Jacks rendered in the colours of the LGBT+ flag, as well as traditional British telephone boxes, the GREAT campaign’s Pride slogan: “love is for everyone”, and a sound system playing iconic British artists from the Spice Girls to Amy Winehouse.
Deputy Consul General Hannah Young said:
Having the freedom to love who you love - and to be yourself - with pride, is not only a central British value, but also an essential component of modern democracy.
I am so proud to be participating in New York Pride again this month, the 10th consecutive year for the British Consulate, celebrating the progress that has been made as well as acknowledging the challenges we still face.
The United Kingdom stands at the forefront of the ongoing fight for LGBT+ rights, which is why we at the Consulate are so pleased to have marched alongside fellow New Yorkers once again in one of the biggest Pride events in the world.
In addition to participating in Sunday’s New York Pride March, the Consulate hosted a cultural showcase reception at the British Residence on Friday 23 June, at which dancers Jack Easton and Regan Hutsell of the Birmingham Royal Ballet performed live for an audience of Consulate staff, partner organisations, media and guests.
Dancers Brandon Lawrence and Tzu Chao Chou, also of the Birmingham Royal Ballet, joined the Consulate team on Sunday’s march, performing alongside the float for an audience of an estimated 1 million spectators.
The UK continues to promote and protect the rights of the LGBT+ community across the world, and is working consistently to improve global advocacy. Last year, the UK adopted the role of co-chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Global LGBT+ Rights, which has seen British representatives meeting with parliamentarians and activists from multiple countries to champion the need for affecting change.
The UK has invested over £11m in programmes to support the promotion and protection of LGBT+ rights across the Commonwealth since 2018, and in June 2022, announced £2.7m in new funding at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting to support grassroots LGBT+ human rights defenders.
Moments like Pride provide important opportunities to focus publicly on the continued global fight for equal rights for the LGBT+ community, but the UK government continues to work to prioritise diversity and inclusion across all its work, both at home and abroad.