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		</div><p>Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has launched the capital’s Pride parade with an attack on would-be prime minister Boris Johnson for using “homophobic language”.</p>
<p>Mr Khan said the Conservative Party leadership favourite had used “the same sort of language” as homophobes who have mistreated LGBT people, and called on him to “realise that language matters”.</p>
<p>Hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets of central London to celebrate LGBT rights on Saturday.</p>
<p>It marked 50 years since the Stonewall uprising in New York – a moment which changed the face of the gay rights movement around the world.</p>
<p>Organisers predicted up to 1.5 million people would turn out for the annual march from Portland Place to Whitehall.</p>
<p>Mr Khan said the “huge, huge” progress in gay rights was to be treasured, but said the “heartbreaking” recent images of a bloodied lesbian couple after they were attacked on a night bus were a symbol of the hate still directed towards LGBT people.</p>
<p>Melanie Geymonat and her partner Chris were beaten up by a group of young men for refusing to kiss in May, with the incident sparking a public outcry.</p>
<p>Parade groups marched through streets bursting with colour, music and dance as participants remembered the “people who paved the way for me to feel OK”.</p>
<p>Choreographer Ricky Jinks, 24, told PA: <em>“I’m learning more of the history myself. To think it started as a riot and now it’s a party is amazing.</em></p>
<p><em>“Some people here can remember a time when it was hell for people like us.</em></p>
<p><em>“We still have things to overcome and change, but this much changing in 50 years seems like a lifetime, but it’s no time at all.</em></p>
<p><em>“I’m learning more about the history myself, about the people who paved the way for me to feel OK.”</em></p>
<p>Speaking ahead of the parade, Mr Khan told PA: <em>“You’ve got the next prime minister using homophobic language.</em></p>
<p><em>“When you speak to members of the LGBTQ+ community, they will tell you that some of the homophobia they suffered, the attackers used this language, the same sort of language he’s used.</em></p>
<p><em>“What I want to see from our prime minister, if it is Boris Johnson – it looks like it will be – is him realising that language matters.”</em></p>
<p>Mr Johnson has been criticised for remarks including calling gay men “tank-topped bumboys” in a 1998 Telegraph column unearthed by the Business Insider website.</p>
<p>He also attacked “Labour’s appalling agenda, encouraging the teaching of homosexuality in schools, and all the rest of it” writing in The Spectator in 2000.</p>
<div data-google-query-id="CMvAra_roOMCFduGWgUd4sEP3Q">https://twitter.com/BorisJohnson/status/1147490778282942465</div>
<div data-google-query-id="CMvAra_roOMCFduGWgUd4sEP3Q">
<p>Leadership contenders Jeremy Hunt and Mr Johnson took the chance to tweet about the event, with Mr Hunt saying: <em>“Happy Pride! It’s so important that we make everyone in our country feel safe and able to express themselves”</em>.</p>
<p>Mr Johnson said: <em>“Salute all those celebrating #PrideInLondon today.</em></p>
<p><em>“Britain leads the world in LGBT+ equality and I’ll continue to champion the cause if I am lucky enough to become our country’s Prime Minister.”</em></p>
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