North London Food & Culture

Outsider Pride is at Castlehaven Community Park

A safe, sober event for LGBTQ homeless people and their supporters takes place in Camden this weekend

It is – in case you haven’t realised – Pride Month. And while the big London parade is on July 6th, this weekend in Camden’s Castlehaven Community Park (formerly Open Space) you can support the much smaller, community-focused (and, of course, corporate-free) Outsider Pride.

Organised by grassroots LGBTQ+ homeless organisation The Outside Project, who run a weekly Monday night drop-in at Castlehaven Community Association, the event is about hanging out in a sober space with like-minded types – while, of course, marking the half century since the Stonewall Riots.

“It has been 50 years since Stonewall Inn was fiercely protected by the LGBTQ+ homeless community,” says Outside Project’s founder, Carla Ecola. “And yet we still have no place in the modern ‘Pride’ movement.”

With this in mind, on Saturday, friends, family, activist groups and allies will all be taking over the small green park nestled between Kentish Town and Camden Market for picnics, readings and performances, as well as holding a vigil for Camden’s legendary (and still) closed Black Cap.


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“We very much welcome the wider LGBTQ+ community to join us,” says Ecola. “But please be respectful by not bringing drugs or alcohol or taking pictures that have anyone identifiable in the background.”

Outsider Pride takes place on Saturday 29th July, midday to 6pm, Castlehaven Open Space NW1. The Outside Project is at the adjoining hub on Mondays – 6-9pm, Castlehaven Community Centre, NW1. More info here

Image: Outside Project


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