London’s LGBTQ+ community to be celebrated with new rainbow plaques

Five new rainbow plaques are to be installed across London to celebrate the city’s LGBTQ+ community and history, the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has announced.

Greenwich, Peckham, Westminster, Ladbroke Grove and Haringey will each be home to one of the plaques after the London LGBT+ Forums’ Network and Studio Voltaire received funding from the Mayor’s Commission for Diversity in the Public Realm and Wandsworth Oasis.

The plaques, which were announced at the Mayor’s annual Pride reception at City Hall on 28 June, are part of a wider national scheme to identify and recognise LGBTQ+ heritage and celebrate the community in public spaces.

There are currently only two plaques in London – one for Oscar Wilde at Clapham Junction Station and one for My Beautiful Laundrette on Wilcox Road, Vauxhall.

“These plaques are a symbol of the enormous contribution that our LGBTQI+ communities make to all our lives”

“London is a beacon of inclusion and diversity around the world, but we still have work to do to ensure that our public spaces fully reflect the many different communities that make up our great city,” the Mayor said.

“As we look ahead to our capital’s Pride celebrations this weekend, I’m delighted to announce that five new rainbow plaques will be installed across our capital in honour of significant people, places and moments in LGBTQI+ history.

“These plaques are a symbol of the enormous contribution that our LGBTQI+ communities make to all our lives and I hope to see many more installed in the future as we build a fairer, more equal city for everyone.”

The new plaques will mark the following:

• Beautiful Thing at the Greenwich Tavern – a celebration of the landmark 1996 coming out and coming-of-age film that was set in Thamesmead and Greenwich. The plaque will be unveiled on Sunday 23 July along with a special screening of the film at Greenwich Picturehouse.
• Black Lesbian and Gay Centre, Peckham – the first centre established in Europe to provide advice and support to the community.
• Jackie Forster, Westminster – honouring the life of the hugely influential journalist and activist who helped to found social group and long-running publication Sappho.
• London Lighthouse, Ladbroke Grove – a pioneering centre and hospice for people with HIV and AIDS offering a respite for people marginalised or abandoned following their diagnosis.
• Section 28, Haringey Civic Centre – the site for a number of protests after the council launched the first of its kind Lesbian and Gay Unit to highlight and support the rights of LGBTQI+ communities.

Each will be installed in the coming months.

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