35,000 March in London Pride as LGBTQ+ Groups Protest 18,000 Hate Crimes
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Jul 4
35,000 March in London Pride as LGBTQ+ Groups Protest 18,000 Hate Crimes
3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Jul 4
Summary
More than 35,000 marchers from about 600 groups paraded through central London on Saturday, with Mayor Sadiq Khan joining the annual Pride in London event.
Organisers cast the march as a protest as well as a celebration, citing NHS gender-affirming care waits exceeding four years in some regions and the lack of a trans-inclusive conversion-therapy ban promised in 2018.
London Pride also pointed to shrinking community infrastructure and hostility, saying 58% of the capital’s LGBTQ+ venues have closed since 2006 and police recorded more than 18,000 sexual-orientation hate crimes in 2025.
The parade comes as some LGBTQ+ activists say the event no longer represents them, accusing it of corporate pinkwashing and objecting to sponsors’ links to the arms trade and the war in Gaza.