Friends spread welcome at Pride
'Quakers [as an official group] did not march in Pride in London this year. There have been objections in the past, about military and corporate involvement.'
Nine London Friends joined the city’s Pride march to spread the Quaker message of inclusion, despite the fact that London Quakers as a group did not join. Friend Abigail Maxwell took a Local Meeting minute and described how the group stood along Piccadilly in groups of three, holding foam boards with the message to marchers that ‘Quakers welcome them’. Writing on the Clare Flourish blog, Abigail Maxwell said: ‘Quakers [as an official group] did not march in Pride in London this year. There have been objections in the past, about military and corporate involvement. I was not present at the decision. Quaker Rainbow, the Quaker LGBT+ fellowship, considered the matter again, and [one Friend] suggested we face the march, saying that Quakers include LGBT+. I felt a need to do that.’
