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Hundreds have say on future of Pride in London after 'pinkwashing' row

<span>Photograph: Stephen Chung/Alamy</span>
Photograph: Stephen Chung/Alamy

Pride in London has received more than 1,200 submissions to its community consultation on the future of the event after criticism that it has become too corporate.

The consultation opened on 22 October and closed this week, and the results will be published before Christmas. The buildup to this year’s parade was dominated by accusations of “pinkwashing”, with some activists arguing there was too much of a focus on corporations over community groups.

Since the Pride in London community interest group took over running the city’s pride celebrations in 2013, the event has more than doubled in size. This year 600 groups walked the route from Portland Place to Trafalgar Square, a 25% increase on last year’s parade. The total was made up of more than 230 businesses, 217 charities and 37 community groups.

Alison Camps, a co-chair of Pride in London, said: “With the parade heavily oversubscribed for the past two years, we’re aware we need to be proactive with solutions so we can continue to be as inclusive as possible. A key part of our consultation is a survey, and we are inviting responses from across the LGBT+ community to help us think about how we best manage this going forward.”

The human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell welcomed the consultation and called for pride to become a political march for LGBT+ rights. He proposed a one-year trial where the parade removes restrictions on the number of people who can march and the requirement to get a wristband.

He also called for the exclusion of “oppressive institutions” from sponsorship and the parade, and a ban on motorised floats, except for disability vehicles.

“Pride has become too corporate and commercial,” he said. “Businesses are in danger of dominating and overshadowing grassroots community groups. Some corporate presence and funding is fine, but we need to strike a better balance between corporates, community groups and individuals in the parade.”

Other groups called for Pride in London to further engage with community groups to ensure the parade is more accessible. Sam Bjorn, a spokesperson for the campaign group Lesbians and Gays Support the Migrants, said: “I want it to focus on groups in the UK and internationally who are left behind. There needs to be a focus on why one in four homeless young people are LGBT people, and I want it to focus on how trans rights are completely under attack in our community.”

Aderonke Apata, the founder of African Rainbow Family, a grassroots organisation that supports refugees and the BAME community, said his group was not aware of the consultation.

“It doesn’t factor in [Pride’s] practices that there are people that are not privileged, such as asylum seekers, who can’t pay to get a wristband to march. We have to crowdfund to get transport for our members in Birmingham, Manchester, Leeds and London. It’s really hard because we have 350 members and they all want to come to London pride. We have to say first-come-first-served basis, which isn’t nice because we’re excluding people from coming.”

Laura Russell, the director of campaigns, policy and research at Stonewall, said: “Pride events are often the highlight of the year for many LGBT people, so it’s vital every person feels welcome and able to attend. This means every pride should listen to those they represent and take steps to ensure their events are as inclusive as possible. Holding a public consultation, like Pride in London, is a great step in making sure that pride is shaped by the community”.