New stamps issued to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Britain’s first Pride March
A colorful collection of stamps has been launched by the Royal Mail to mark Pride Month.
The set is released exactly 50 years after the first UK Pride rally on July 1st 1972.
They celebrate “the history of pride through time” on eight stamps.
Each one is inspired by the historic 1972 rally organized by the Gay Liberation Front.
People marched from Trafalgar Square to Hyde Park inspired by the first Pride events in New York.
They chanted slogans like “Gay is fun! Gay is proud! gay is beautiful!’
One of the stamps in the new Royal Mail set features a banner reading ‘Love always wins’.
David Gold, the company’s director of foreign affairs and policy, said: “The vibrant, colorful Pride events taking place in cities across the UK today hark back to a small group of people who passed through the center half a century ago from London marched to raise awareness of discrimination and inequality.
“There have been tremendous changes in laws and social attitudes, but Pride events continue to play a key role in raising awareness of discrimination and celebrating diversity and individualism.”
Specially commissioned by Royal Mail, the stamps are illustrated by award-winning artist Sofie Birkin, whose illustrations have featured in campaigns for brands such as Nike and Apple.
The stamp designers, NB Studio, in collaboration with the animation studio Animade, have created a film with the illustrations of the stamp issue.
“It was a real honor to be asked to create this iconic series for The Royal Mail as it represents such an important part of Britain’s LGBTQ+ history,” said Alan Dye, owner of NB Studio.
He added: “It has been an absolute pleasure to work with Sofie Birkin, whose work we have admired for some time.
“Seeing these beautiful illustrations come to life, it’s easy to imagine being part of ‘March Through Time…’.
Jennifer Judd, Animade’s co-founder and CEO, added that it was an honor to be a part of the entire experience.
She said: “This has been a joyful project for Animade to be a part of and as part of our creative industry it has given us the opportunity to do something beautiful to celebrate Pride and the diverse LGBTQ+ community.
“Animation adds an extra narrative dimension that helped bring this important project to life for Royal Mail.”
The stamps can be pre-ordered from June 23rd and will go on general sale on July 1st.
The Royal Mail has designed a range of new stamps to commemorate anniversaries and significant achievements such as legalizing same-sex marriage.
As part of the company’s initiative, Queen singer Freddie Mercury’s childhood stamp album will be on display at London’s Postal Museum.
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Metro.co.uk celebrates 50 years of pride
This year marks 50 years of Pride, so it seems only fitting that Metro.co.uk goes above and beyond in our ongoing LGBTQ+ support, with a wealth of content celebrating not only everything Pride-related, but Share stories, take time to reflect and raise awareness for the community this Pride month.
MORE: Find all of Metro.co.uk’s Pride coverage here
And we also have some big names on board to help us. From a list of famous guest editors taking over the site for a week, including Rob Rinder, Nicholas Adams, Peter Tatchel, Kimberly Hart Simpson, John White, Anna Richardson and Dr Ranjwe will also have the likes Sir Ian McKellen and drag race stars the vivienne, Lawrence Chaney and Tia Kofi offer their insights.
During Pride Month, which runs June 1-30, Metro.co.uk is also supporting Kyiv Pride, a Ukrainian charity forced to work harder than ever to protect the rights of the LGBTQ+ community in times of conflict , as well as the youth homelessness charity AKT. To learn more about their work and what you can do to support them, click here.
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https://metro.co.uk/2022/06/23/new-stamps-released-to-mark-50th-anniversary-of-uks-first-pride-march-16878557/ New stamps issued to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Britain's first Pride March