London Food & Culture

Pride

Pride Month: 7 events you can’t miss

We handpick the best events across the capital

1. Musicians supports the migrants

This fundraising event for Lesbians and Gays Support the Migrants (LGSM) sees a host of LGBT+ fronted bands take to the stage at DIY Space, including the likes The Nyx, The E.D. Fowler Band and Grapefruit, an emerging LGBT+ and female-fronted indie band. In the same vein as their historic mining namesake (as featured in the hit 2014 film Pride), LGSM are a grassroots queer organisation standing in solidarity with other communities facing state violence and media attacks. The group are driven by the knowledge that a matter of decades ago, LGBT+ people were “illegals” and queer pubs and bars were being targeted in police raids and subject to state violence. Now, it is the homes and workplaces of migrants that are targeted. Go support their activism. 20th July, £4, 7.30pm, DIY Space for London, 96-108 Ormside Street, SE15. More: @lgsmigrants

2. Queer and Now

Tate Britain’s day-long programme of free events celebrates the role of LGBT+ arts and culture in today’s society with live performances, talks, tours, music, film and dance from artists rooted in the UK’s queer community. Inspired by the history of activism, the festival commemorates the progress made and explores efforts for queer visibility, recognition and justice. The event is family-friendly, but it also gets pretty lit when the DJs take to the decks. 23th June, 2pm-10pm, Tate Britain, SW1P

JayJay Revlon at Queer and Now. Photo: Jordan Anderson

3. Queer Asia Film Festival

Bodies X Borders is the theme of this year’s five-day exploration of queer Asian cinema. Looking to visualise how queer bodies transgress norms, nations and identities, the festival showcases 30 films, including the first LGBT+ Asia short film. Alongside this is a collection of 22 shorts from countries spanning Myanmar to Lebanon. The festival traces the Asian diaspora in transnational locations in Crossing Bridges (Canada/Indonesia) and the mediation of dangerous national borders in Screaming Goats (Thailand). It also looks to imagine the complexities of racialised bodies and Islam within European urban spaces in A Post-Ottoman Trilogy (Skopje, Sarajevo, and Salonika) and in a feature documentary from Argentina, it tracks solidarity building and learning between the LGBT+ movements in Asia and South America. More here. 24th-29th June. The Festival is co-hosted at The British Library and SOAS

4. Sexuality Lates

This adults-only event at the Science Museum looks to celebrate the diversity of human sexuality. Expect a host of talks, music, performances and visual arts taking place across the whole museum. Later in the evening the legendary Miss Kimberley will perform a one-off Pride in London Variety Show in the IMAX theatre. She’ll be joined by drag royalty Michael Twaits and a whole host of notable community icons. 6.30pm-midnight, June 27th, Free before 10pm, £6 after, Science Museum, Exhibition Road, SW7


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Infinity Boxes at the Science Museum. Photo: Jody Kingzett

5. See Miss Hope Springs

The down-on-her-luck ‘recovering showgirl’ (see our review here) plays the piano and sings songs from her acclaimed repertoire. Expect vintage Vegas style finger-snapping pop, wistful waltzes and smouldering torch songs in a sequinned pantsuit as Hope opens her battered ‘suitcase of dreams’ to share another trip down a “somewhat potholed” memory lane. Tickets here, Thurs June 14th 7pm, Brasserie Zédel

6. Andrew Lumsden: A Retrospective

Original member of the GLF Andrew Lumsden has been an integral part of the city’s queer activist movement for the majority of his life. In 2003, Andrew decided to photograph the event, and this July he’s been asked to line the walls of the Platform Gallery in Southwark with the 123 photos snapped on the day. “They’ve never been seen by anybody but me,” he says. The images beautifully capture the joyful and playful spirit of the time. “We want to use the exhibition to identify a number of people from the parade,” says Andrew. It’s curated by Queer Tours of London and Queerseum. More info here, 11-14th July, Platform Gallery, 1 Joan St SE1

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Miss Hope Springs. Photo: PR

7. Little Gay Brother

The team behind the raucous shenanigans at Secret Garden Party’s Gay Bar have been pottering around the capital bringing the same hedonistic, extravagant house and disco to venues across town. On the evening of Pride (7th), they’ll be taking over the crumbling, antiquated-seeming walls of Omeara once again. Last month, the crew spent the evening strutting along treadmills, voguing in unison and sauntering around oozing in fabulousness. Expect lots of tanked naked men and some serious musical prowess from behind the decks. They’re keeping the guest DJs under wraps but judging by the usual calibre expect big things. 7th July 9pm-5am, £11, Little Gay Brother, Omeara, O’Meara St SE1. More here.

Main image: Little Gay Brother, Roisin Murphy


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