Pride month takes place every year in June and additional Pride events take place across the summer in London – including a parade in Central London. Every year we encourage our staff and our customers to join in and celebrate with us. In this blog, we’ll highlight some of the projects that we’ve been working on, and where you can see them on the network.
Sharing messages of Pride 🏳️🌈
‘It’s incredible and amazing to highlight people’s experiences of being part of the LGBTQ+ community. Because it’s not always easy for everyone.
If you’re younger and you see people speaking about what they’ve been through, it makes you feel seen and heard.’
— Bimini, Drag Artist
Marc Thompson, He/Him. Activist, podcaster, LGBTQ+ archivist, Director at The Love Tank. 
Dee Allum, She/her. Award-winning comedian and writer. 
Julian Hows, They/them. Former transport worker and an activist working to achieve LGBT and HIV Justice for all. 
Queen MoJo, She/her. Dancer, fashionista and motivational Queen. 
Asifa Lahore, She/her. Britain’s First Out Muslim Drag Queen. She is standing in front of a Tram bound for Beckenham Junction, waving a purple jewelled scarf in the air. 
Gok Wan MBE, He/him. Stylist, Presenter, DJ, author. 
Bimini, They/them . Drag artist, musician, author.
This year for Pride month, we wanted to shine a light on the stories by LGBTQ+ communities.
By highlighting personal experiences, we hope our customers will connect with the different stories represented as they travel on our network.
We have a mix of posters, featuring photographs of important voices in LGBTQ+ communities. We have also included the stories and experiences of a range of colleagues in our posters too.
Look through the carousel to see more about the LGBTQ+ voices featured in the campaign.
We also gave our colleagues the opportunity to take part in a contest to design a Pride artwork. Colleagues have expressed their creativity through designs, poems and craftwork. Of the entries, there were 10 shortlisted, with the judging panel choosing their favourite designs for posters in our stations. Other selections are being used for T-shirts and banners that the TfL procession will wear at the Pride March.
Look through the carousel to see our colleagues’ designs.
Highlighting the creativity of our colleagues 🖌
On his winning T-shirt design, Antonio Pinheiro took inspiration from transport network maps. ‘All the lines represent the colours of the most updated Pride flag. The yellow line is circular because the colour yellow appears two times on the flag. The first circle is violet to represent the intersexual community. It is very important to me that all communities are part of this design. I made the lines converge to symbolise togetherness.’
Joe Brown is the lead for OUTbound, our colleague community group, who’ve been shaping the Pride campaign. ‘I designed my poster ‘who we are’ with nine bold positive statements about the LGBTQ+ community, using the acronym TfL. The poster was intended to also work as parade placards, so I am bursting with pride that they will accompany us 1 July, along with the simply beautiful bus design, one hundred people from our network, and many LGBTQ+ allies.’
Zofia Gawor submitted an embroidery showing the Pride flag, on her design: ‘I chose Every Journey Matters because it has a double meaning for me. It shows that every queer person’s journey matters however or whenever you decide to come out. If you change your mind about your gender or your sexuality and change it again: every person’s journey is valid, and matters!’
Innes Iragui loves to create abstract patterns that can be interpreted in many ways. ‘Some people have told me they see the shapes as train carriages, people or even a city landscape. This is how I can illustrate more abstract feelings like ‘Pride’: A tapestry of rushing, bouncing, joyous colour, unique individuality and interconnected community.’
Michelle, Joseph and Gonzalo at Tottenham Court Road station 
Alex and Joe at Piccadilly Circus station 
Donna and Claire at Holland Park station 
Billy and Joe at Holland Park station 
Dan and Clara at Parsons Green station 
Donna and Adam at Holland Park station 
Eddy and Antonio at Vauxhall bus station 
Jordan Matteo and Stephen at Vauxhall Underground station 
Forest, Alex and Michael at Tottenham Court Road station 
ErVin and Marty at Tottenham Court Road station 
Georgia and Jack at Vauxhall bus station 
Hannah Adam and Lorenzo at Parsons Green station 
Jamie and Claire at Holland Park station 
Krystal and James at Vauxhall Underground station 
Monica and Aiden at Piccadilly Circus station 
Omari and Donny at Parsons Green station 
Simon and Carl at Vauxhall bus station 
Peter and Charles at Piccadilly Circus station
📢 Poetry written by colleagues is being played out at Covent Garden Tube station.
If you are travelling through the station on 1 July, keep an ear out for it to get into the spirit of Pride.
Pride on our network 🚇
The Pride celebrations don’t stop there! If you have been riding the route 63 bus, you might have already seen the rainbow design on the bus. A London Overground train will also feature the same design.
Jenney De Sousa developed the design, and wanted it to include the lived experience of the LGBTQ+ community. She felt that it was important to include figures that reflect the diversity of London in the design.
You can see the design on a number of different services, including a forthcoming Elizabeth Line train. Look out for design across London, and even as far as Essex and Reading.
An engineering locomotive will also feature a wrap for the first time too. Send us a picture if you see it!
LGBTQ+ stories 📚
Book lovers should keep an eye out for this! Whiteboard posters in various stations are being adorned with quotes from LGBTQ+ books.
These are books are “Soft Lad” by Nick Grimshaw and “Mad Honey” by Jodi Picoult and Jennifer Finney Boylan, which are in the TfL Book Club.
Pick up one of the books and read more from LGBTQ+ voices.
Our presence at Pride 🤩
We have a strong presence in Pride, being part of the parade in London since 2006. This year we will be marching under banners of the OUTbound, Women, Faith, RACE, Carers, Parent and Guardians, and Disability Staff Network groups. All of these staff groups highlight the many aspects of the LGBTQ+ communities of London.
If you’re heading to central London to watch the parade, share your pictures on social and use our Pride stickers! Search ‘transport for london’ and ‘pride’ to find them.
So proud to be working for such a diverse and inclusive company! Also happy to be featured on the same page as Bimini!!! Such a huge fan 🙂
Fabulous blog piece capturing all of the brilliant creativity surrounding TfL’s 2023 Pride participation. So overwhelmed to see everything all captured in one place… special thanks to Jenney, Ann, Melvin and Paul as well as the entire OUTbound community of course.