LGBT lawyers to join Pride 2011

Familiar faces from the legal market will once again be promoting LGBT diversity in the profession, with the Law Society, the Junior Lawyers Division (JLD), the Lesbian and Gay Lawyers Association, Interlaw, the Bar Council, the Bar Lesbian And Gay Group and ILEX set to stride out through the streets of London next month (July).

JLD chair Judith Perkins said: “This will be the third year the JLD has participated in Pride. I remember in the first year there were 25 or so of us across the legal groups. We were positioned behind a large bus, which played “I’m coming out” on a constant loop. It was a great atmosphere and now I think I know every line of that song off by heart.”

“Last year, there were around 125 of us; a huge increase in numbers. Again, it was a fantastic event,” she added.

This year the parade is due to kick off on 2 July from Broadcasting House at the top of Regent Street.

JLD will march under the banner ‘Equality for All under the Law’, which Perkins describes as an important and relevant message regardless of gender, race or sexual preference.

With more than a million participants, Pride has now become one of the biggest parades in the country. And yet up until a couple of years ago it never had formal representation from the legal profession, when around 40 turned out.