The event will go ahead on 24 September after some confusion in recent weeks about whether it would proceed during a ban on marches in that part of the city.

East London Pride aims to celebrate LGBTQ life in Barking and Dagenham, Hackney, Havering, Newham, Tower Hamlets, Redbridge and Waltham Forest. It also wants to oppose all kinds of discrimination including homophobia, transphobia, sexism and racism which includes anti-semitism and islamophobia. A statement on their website says: “We invite LGBTQ people and supporters who share our values to join us – people of all genders and all ethnic groups, people of all ages, and people of faith and none.”

Campaigner Peter Tatchell has agreed with the decision taken by the organisers not to address the homophobic stickers issue from earlier this year. He said, “The organisers of East London Pride have chosen to not address the Gay-Free Zone controversy, not march through the E1 area and to not stress the need for LGBT-Muslim solidarity. They fear this would stir local division. They might be right. I respect their decision.” However, he also expresses his wish that organisations which have publicly denounced homophobia such as the Muslim Council of Britain and the East London Mosque would have agreed to speak at the event: “If these organisations and the Muslim Mayor of Tower Hamlets attended, it would send a strong, positive signal locally. Their involvement would be a powerful statement against both homophobia and anti-Muslim prejudice. It would build bridges.”

The East London Pride parade will start at around 13:00 outside Hackney Town Hall and will form a procession to Oxford House Community Centre in Tower Hamlets.

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