A nudge for your calendar, Pride in London is going to be on Saturday 7th July. Just a month away if you want to plan a big day out in London! The parade itself is for registered groups, but is a lot of fun to watch and makes a great photography subject. If you want to officially take photographs for Wikimedia Commons and get privileged access, media passes can be requested up until 22 June.[1] Remember that we have an easy way to put freely released LGBT+ related photographs on Wikimedia Commons, see the LGBT Free Media collective.[2]
Throughout June the international WikiLovesPride is running, so regardless of where you are, it's a great time to take a look at improving Wikipedia articles on LGBT+ history or biographies.[3] The history of the London gay rights marches and Pride parades looks skimpy and out of date, missing changes like the growing size of the event, now the third largest LGBT+ parade in the world, being awarded the Queen's Award for Voluntary Service, and there being no mention of UK Black Pride events which run in parallel and are notable enough for a stand alone article. It's these primary Wikipedia articles and related photographs that journalists rely on when they are reporting on Pride events.[4]
Pride in London training for stewards has started, and lots more volunteers are needed (it takes hundreds of stewards for the Parade alone). It's easy to book yourself in and the session lasts an hour. If you cannot get to Southwark for training, there will be remote digital training sessions too. I went on the first course last weekend, and for the first time I'll be a senior steward on the day. Drop me a note if you want to ask about it. If you are media savvy and can help out with tweets and photographs to support the event, there are calls for volunteers for those activities too.[5][6]
Links 1. https://prideinlondon.org/media-centre 2. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Commons:LGBT_Free_Media_Collective 3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Wiki_Loves_Pride/2018 4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pride_London 5. https://prideinlondon.org/volunteer 6. https://twitter.com/PrideInLondon/status/1003924645106671616
Cheers, Fae