Usually jet-setting on summer sojourns, it’s somewhat miraculous that we’re in the British capital for Pride in London 2024. As a result, we’re all the more excited that the Experientialist will join the revelry in OutThere’s home city. Here’s how we’ll be spending Pride week.
Pride in London 2024 promises a joyous celebration of inclusivity and unity; and in a time-honoured, week-long tradition, will transform the city into a vibrant collage of colour, love and belonging.
This year’s theme is #WeAreEverywhere, underpinning Pride in London 2024 as the UK’s largest and most diverse Pride event. The theme highlights London’s intersectional LGBTQ+ community and its power as the catalyst for change in the UK and abroad.
According to the ILGA-Europe Rainbow Index, the ‘league table’ of LGBTQI rights in Europe, the UK has been backsliding every year since 2015, in a climate of increased political polarisation and more dehumanisation of trans and non-binary people. The #WeAreEverywhere campaign confronts this worrying trend of slowing (and reversing) progress in one of the world’s most diverse cities. It features regular Londoners who make a difference in their communities every day, throughout the year, by simply showing up as their authentic selves.
The campaign’s hard-hitting message culminates on Parade/March Day 29th June, with the Pride in London 2024 Parade promising a striking demonstration of LGBTQ+ joy. The streets of the city will come alive in an exuberant march, spirited music and a show of solidarity, as people from all walks of life come together to honour diversity and champion equality. The energy is usually infectious, with a palpable sense of community. Families, friends and allies will join the festivities, with powerful messages of pride, resilience, hope and progress… in a heartfelt celebration of love and human rights, embodying the spirit of freedom, future-forwardness and inclusivity that defines London.
We’ll be kicking off Pride in London 2024, with an OutThere event, in partnership with a long-standing community ally, Home House. Earlier this year, the iconic, fun-loving, quarter-century-old member’s club in Portman Square hosted our Experientialist® Awards. It will continue its commitment to inclusivity during Pride week with a series of events celebrating the community, as well as its iconic and eccentric characters/members. The wider message is that all will always be welcome at Home House, celebrated and made to feel at home not just at Pride, but all year round.
We’ll be hosting an LGBTQIA+ tastemaker and ‘power of Pride’ event for members on Monday 24th June, with a panel chaired by our Experientialist®-in-Chief, Uwern Jong. The sell-out event – open to Home House’s members – will showcase incredible queer voices, including Lady Phyll (Opuku), one of the founders of the UK Black Pride, Rebecca Cox, the writer behind Single Mother Edit and How to be a Happy Single Parent, Ryan-Mark Parsons, journalist, broadcaster and the youngest ever participant in 2019’s series of business reality TV show The Apprentice (he’s also had a stint on E4’s Celebs Go Dating) and Robin Dutt, long-term Home House member, author, journalist, media consultant, lecturer, bon viveur and great British dandy.
On Wednesday 26th June, the celebrations at Home House continue with an ambassador dinner which will include queer luminaries like Dame Kelly Holmes, before a Pride edition of drag Bingo hosted by Grace Shush and Cybil War, followed by the return of an annual tradition, an afterparty in House 21 with DJ Fat Tony.
Our event follows the Pride in London 2024 Human Rights Forum, a one-day event held at Portland Hall at the University of Westminster this Sunday 23rd June. The forum provides a platform for international voices from diverse backgrounds to speak on various LGBTI+-rights topics, including challenges faced by the community, ongoing struggles for equality and human rights and opportunities for collaboration and advocacy. Hot on the heels of the success of the inaugural event in 2023, the forum aims to facilitate dialogue and collaboration among activists, policymakers and the general public on issues related to LGBTI+-rights, covering topics including LGBTI+ refugees and asylum seekers, the global backlash against LGBTI+-rights and sustainable and impactful activism in the current climate.
On Parade day, we will be watching the march and joining the revelry later in Soho, central London’s ‘gaybourhood.’ This year’s Parade route starts halfway down Piccadilly by Green Park and will wind its way to Piccadilly Circus before turning off towards Trafalgar Square, home to the event’s main stage. There will be other stages across Soho, including ones in Leceister Square, Golden Square, Soho Square and Dean Street, with fantastic queer programming, as well as a Family Area by Embankment station. Having served on the Pride in London board in the past, we know exactly how challenging (and expensive) it is to put an event like this together for the community. Pride in London accepts donations to aid their efforts, and we urge you to give as much as you can to help the cause.
Pride in London 2024 has also stepped up to the mark on accessibility. Knowing London will be crowded, they have taken a proactive and respectful approach to create an environment where everyone, regardless of ability, feels fully included. Disabled revellers looking to access facilities at Pride in London 2024 should complete and submit an Access Registration Form, to ensure that needs and accommodations can be adequately and safely met, with volunteers ready, trained and prepared to assist and wayfind. Pride in London has also partnered with Nimbus Disability’s Access Card Scheme, offering greater privacy without needing disabled guests to carry supporting documents. This partnership allows them to validate access requirements, provide reasonable adjustments, and protect against potential misuse. The scheme is amazing – run by disabled people, for disabled people – and has won multiple awards, accepted and recognised at thousands of events, venues and attractions across the UK and beyond.
We’ll be watching the Parade at The Dorchester London. Earlier this year, the hotel hosted our Icons of Inclusion event, which brought together speakers and thought leaders in luxury travel, to foster a greater culture of diversity, equity, accessibility and inclusion.
You may think a Dorchester Collection and OutThere partnership is a strange one. We are more than aware of the boycott and challenges faced because of the hotel’s ownership in previous years. But the hotel and its sister property 45 Park Lane have done some amazing work over the last few years to put into place policies and actions that make them among the most welcoming luxury properties in London. Despite everything that has happened, they are clear and committed to demonstrating that they truly value, respect and embrace members of staff and guests from the LGBTQIA+ community and beyond, and are deeply intersectional in their diversity. And one of their leaders, Eugenio Pirri, co-CEO is a proud member of our community.
At OutThere, we judge brands on how they act now and seek to act in the future. Moreover, if we can work with these brands and be part of their journey to spur change in the industry, we feel that this is a better result for everyone.
For Pride in London 2024 weekend, The Dorchester and neighbouring 45 Park Lane will be raising funds for charity AKT, a charity dedicated to supporting LGBTQ+ young people aged 16-25 in the UK who are facing or experiencing homelessness or living in hostile environments. From 28th to 30th June, guests can enjoy their exclusive ‘Harmony’ cocktail, available across the venues’ food and beverage outlets.
After the parade, we’ll head to Soho, to set up camp at Flute, at the Broadwick Soho. The acclaimed Martin Brudnizki-designed luxury hotel will be going all out to celebrate its first Pride in London at the heart of queer London’s spiritual home. And you won’t miss their ‘coming out’ as they have partnered with renowned set designer Gary Card especially for Pride in London 2024 to create a special, kaleidoscopic, porcelain arch installation which will adorn the hotel entrance for the duration of Pride Month, beckoning and welcoming LGBTQIA+ guests into the hotel. It’s a bit of chintz, with lots of sense of place… with Soho-centric 70s and 80s pop thrown in to keep it fun, varied and camp. We also know that inside its hallowed spaces, the service will be on-point, as team OutThere has had a direct hand in helping to provide sensitivity training to the hotel’s staff.
Flute, the hotel’s intimate rooftop space will also be serving a special Pride cocktail, available all month. It’s vodka-based and called ‘Beautiful Thing’ – a celebration of individuality and boldness, reflected in its elegant and cheeky presentation. It was named in homage to the iconic 1990s LGBTQIA+ film by Jonathan Harvey, capturing the vibrant and unapologetic spirit of Pride in London.
On Parade day, 29th of June, there will be an LGBTQIA+ DJ playing from noon to midnight. Broadwick Soho will also be raising funds for two incredible organisations: Not A Phase, which uplifts the lives of trans+ adults across the UK and the national LGBTQIA+ helpline, Switchboard, one of the UK’s longest-established LGBTQIA+ charities (this year celebrating its 50th anniversary) that provides a vital lifeline of support and information to the LGBTQ+ community. Switchboard operates a confidential helpline, offering a safe and non-judgmental space for individuals to discuss issues related to sexuality, gender identity, mental health, and relationships. The service is run by trained volunteers who provide empathetic listening, practical advice, and referrals to other supportive organisations.
Photography by Mike Cox
