Uniformed police not welcome on march, say London Pride organisers

Pride in London says uniformed officers should not march in the parade, after calls from LGBTQ+ campaigners to bar them because of Scotland Yard's "homophobic" handling of the investigation into the serial killer Stephen Port.

- David Batty

The move came after the human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said that the case, which the independent police watchdog recently announced it was reinvestigating, showed that "institutional homophobia is alive and kicking in the Metropolitan police".

Tatchell added that the case, as well as other recent revelations of homophobia, racism and misogyny in the police force, meant Pride in London needed to take a stand on police officers' participation in the parade. The 70-year-old activist said that if the Metropolitan police had conducted a proper investigation after the murder of Port's first victim, Anthony Walgate, the three other young gay men Port subsequently killed would still be alive.

Officers failed to link the deaths between June 2014 and September 2015, despite striking similarities and the fact that three of the men were found in St Margaret's churchyard, Barking, yards from Port's home, and the fourth was found outside his flat.

Tatchell said: "While there are many good officers, and they are welcome to march in civilian clothes, Pride needs to challenge the police as an institution, otherwise they will never reform."