UK’s oldest hospice to march in this year’s Pride London Parade
Next weekend’s Pride London Parade will feature staff and volunteers from a hospice for the very first time.
Trinity Hospice will join a whole host of other groups for the annual LGBT march on Saturday 28 June.
Around 20 nurses, doctors, staff and supporters are taking part.
Trinity provides services for 750,000 people living in central and south-west London.
For many years the charity has been an important provider of care for the LGBT community.
Chief Executive Dallas Pounds said: “During the late 80s and early 90s Trinity and the hospice movement reached out to gay men dying from AIDS related illnesses in a way no other health care facility did.
“A legacy of fear and discrimination has meant that often individuals in the LGBT community do not always know how to or do not feel comfortable accessing the wonderful support and expert care that places like Trinity offer.
“We believe there is still a place for a special relationship between hospices and LGBT communities and individuals.”
Ms Pounds admits some people may have reservations about a hospice taking part in a “celebratory” Pride event, but Trinity’s message “is all about living every moment”.
She said: “We help people make the most of whatever time they have – be it days, weeks or months – whether that is in their own home, in our bright modern hospice in Clapham, a hostel or wherever they call home. Of course it can be a difficult and sad time for people and their loved ones but Trinity is not about dying – it’s about living.”
