Capital Pride London
LGBTQIA+ SUMMIT 2026
Bridging the Divide: Rights, Resilience, and Radical Policy
The fight doesn't stop at our borders
Pride began as resistance — and for millions of LGBTQIA+ people around the world, resistance is still a daily reality. While some nations debate the finer points of equality, others imprison, persecute and even execute people simply for who they are and who they love. A Pride that only looks inward is not enough. Bridging the divide means standing with our siblings everywhere — especially where it is most dangerous to be queer.
The stakes, in numbers
UN member states still criminalise consensual same-sex relationships.
of them can impose the death penalty for being LGBTQIA+.
of these laws trace directly back to British colonial rule.
Sources: ILGA World (2025) · Human Dignity Trust
Many of these laws are Britain's export
It is tempting to treat anti-queer persecution as someone else's culture or someone else's problem. The history says otherwise. More than half of the countries that criminalise LGBTQIA+ people today inherited those laws from the British Empire — the "buggery" and "unnatural offences" provisions written into Section 377 penal codes and exported across the Commonwealth.
That history places a particular responsibility on a London Pride — not to lecture, but to help undo what was done.
Our role is solidarity, not saviourism: to listen to, resource and amplify the activists leading this work on the ground, and to follow their lead — never to speak over the people who know their own context best.
Rights, healthcare, and the right to exist
Justice & safety
Decriminalisation, protection from violence, and safe routes to asylum for those forced to flee. Where the law itself is the threat, simply living openly is an act of courage.
Healthcare
Access to HIV prevention and treatment, and to gender-affirming care — both under threat where stigma and criminalisation push people away from the services that keep them alive.
Trans rights
A coordinated, well-funded global rollback is targeting trans and non-binary people — from bans on healthcare to attempts to write them out of the law entirely.
Many of the frontlines in this fight are in the Global South, where courageous grassroots movements lead — often at great personal risk and with a fraction of the resources. The most useful thing a well-resourced Pride in the Global North can do is shift power and funding toward them, amplify their demands, and show up when they ask us to.
What the Capital Pride LGBTQIA+ Summit can do
This is why the Summit exists. In one focused half-day working session, we turn solidarity into action — convening activists, policymakers and community leaders to draft concrete, actionable policy, build international coalitions, and put frontline and Global South voices at the centre. The time for talking is over. We're here to plan, and to build.
Join the SummitThe IDAHOT+ Forum comes to London in 2027
For the first time, the UK — in partnership with the Council of Europe — will host the European IDAHOT+ Forum in London in May 2027, convening governments, civil society and advocates from across the continent. The UK accepted the role at this year's forum in Copenhagen, and announced a £21 million package (2026–2029) to advance LGBT+ rights worldwide through civil society partnerships. It's a landmark moment for international LGBT+ equality — and exactly the kind of momentum the Capital Pride LGBTQIA+ Summit exists to build on.
London hosts the forum — a UK first.
To advance global LGBT+ rights, 2026–2029.
Governments, civil society & advocates convene.
English