In this year’s Pride month, the U.K. public sector splurged over £500k on LGBT-related activities, with the Greater London Authority the top spender. The Telegraph has more.
Taxpayers footed a bill of more than £500,000 during Pride month across the public sector which included a drag story time event, rainbow flags and T-shirts.
Spending on LGBT-themed events, merchandise and sponsorship in June totalled £554,000 across police forces, NHS trusts, councils and fire services, figures show.
Research conducted by the TaxPayers’ Alliance think tank found the Greater London Authority was the highest spender, with City Hall spending £126,700 on grant funding, T-shirts and flags.
Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London, addressed this year’s Pride in London event where he gave an impassioned speech about his backing for the transgender community.
“I’ll say this loud and clear, from Trafalgar Square, trans rights are human rights,” Mr. Khan said in a video posted to his social media channels.
He added: “As long as I’m Mayor, I’ll always be an ally of the LGBTQI+ community and campaign for their rights.”
The Pride parade held in Central London was disrupted by activists from Just Stop Oil, the climate campaign group, who picketed the event for taking money from ‘high-polluting’ sponsors.
Greater London Authority was followed by Surrey Council, where £93,065 was allocated to sponsoring and attending a Pride event, and Lancaster Council, which spent £20,188 on rainbow lanyards and grants to LGBT organisations.
While much of the spending across the public sector went on sponsoring Pride marches, Stirling Council spent £129 on merchandise including glitter tattoos and face paints.
The University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trusts incurred £322 on badges displaying staff pronouns and a rainbow selfie frame, while Cambridgeshire Council spent £1,487 on a banner and Harborough Council £3,275 on flags, flagpoles and fittings.
City of Wolverhampton Council specified that it spent £620 on “3km of rainbow bunting”.
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