The message for this years Pride in London was #nofilter – a call for people to live as themselves and for this to be possible for everyone. Mildmay are only too aware that many people living with HIV do not have this freedom due to the Stigma and discrimination that still surrounds the condition.
We decided to create a wall of photographs taken at Pride under the banner #nofilter #nostigma #freedom 2 B U. Many of these photographs were also shared across social media over the week end.
This was the first year Mildmay had a stall in Soho Square instead of Trafalgar Square and the atmosphere was amazing. We met some fantastic people and had plenty of opportunity to talk about Mildmay’s work, to raise awareness about HIV and the risk to health of late diagnosis.
As Soho Square overflowed, people flocked to our stall to have their faces decorated by our very talented face painter. We even had members of the Met joining the orderly queue! There were cheers from the crowds as multi-coloured ticker tape filled the air and the Red Arrows flew in formation high above our heads, trailing a ribbon of colours across the sky.
This year’s Pride parade took on even greater resonance in the wake of the Orlando nightclub shooting, in which 49 people lost their lives and many more were injured. A minute’s silence was held, as thousands joined together to stand in strength against hate, intolerance and fear.
Mildmay were honoured to join with the LGBTQ community and unite under the rainbow colours of Pride 2016.
A big thanks to all the volunteers to helped out on our stall, to our fabulous Mildmay team and to all those who visited us ….check out more photos on our facebook page.
See you in 2017!
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