Five new rainbow-coloured plaques are to be installed across London, as the capital prepares to hold its annual Pride parade on Saturday.
The plaques will be dedicated to significant people, places and moments in the city’s LGBTQ+ history.
They will be placed in Greenwich, Peckham, Westminster, Ladbroke Grove and Haringey, after the London LGBT+ Forums’ Network and Studio Voltaire received funding from the Mayor’s Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm and Wandsworth Oasis.
They form part of a national scheme to identify hidden and lost LGBTQ+ heritage and celebrate the importance of the communities in our public spaces.
There are currently only two such plaques in London - one for Oscar Wilde at Clapham Junction Station and one for the 1985 film My Beautiful Laundrette on Wilcox Road, Vauxhall.
The new plaques, to be installed over the coming months, will mark:
- Beautiful Thing at the Greenwich Tavern – a celebration of the landmark 1996 coming out and coming-of-age film that was set in Thamesmead and Greenwich. The plaque will be unveiled on Sunday 23 July along with a special screening of the film at Greenwich Picturehouse.
- Black Lesbian and Gay Centre, Peckham – the first centre established in Europe to provide advice and support to the community.
- Jackie Forster, Westminster – honouring the life of the hugely influential journalist and activist who helped to found social group and long-running publication Sappho.
- London Lighthouse, Ladbroke Grove – a pioneering centre and hospice for people with HIV and AIDS offering a respite for people marginalised or abandoned following their diagnosis.
- Section 28, Haringey Civic Centre – the site for a number of protests after the council launched the first of its kind Lesbian and Gay Unit to highlight and support the rights of LGBTQI+ communities.
The announcement was made by Mayor Sadiq Khan at his annual Pride reception at City Hall on Wednesday evening.
“London is a beacon of inclusion and diversity around the world, but we still have work to do to ensure that our public spaces fully reflect the many different communities that make up our great city,” said Mr Khan.
“As we look ahead to our capital’s Pride celebrations this weekend, I’m delighted to announce that five new rainbow plaques will be installed across our capital in honour of significant people, places and moments in LGBTQI+ history.
“These plaques are a symbol of the enormous contribution that our LGBTQI+ communities make to all our lives and I hope to see many more installed in the future as we build a fairer, more equal city for everyone.”
Earlier this week, Transport for London unveiled three Pride-themed wrap designs on a bus, Overground train and Elizabeth line train.
The wraps show a diverse group of Londoners from across the LGBTQ+ community, and the bus will also accompany people representing TfL in the Pride in London parade on 1 July.
