To mark the 50th anniversary of the Pride movement in the United Kingdom, a celebratory rainbow coin will be released, featuring the LGBTQ+ flags.
The 50p coin was designed by Dominique Holmes, an east London artist, writer, and LGBTQ+ activist, who decided to incorporate in the design the Pride’s values such as Protest, Visibility, Unity, and Equality.
This is the first time the LGBTQ+ celebrates a Pride month with an official coin created through a partnership between Pride London and the Royal Mint. The best part is that aside from the coin, a donation to the London LGBT Community Pride will be made as part of the launch.
According to Asad Shaykh, Pride in London’s director of marketing and communications, there is no other place in the world with a celebratory coin like this.
The Royal Mint’s director of commemorative coins, Clare Maclennan, explained to BBC, that it will use a hi-tech color printing technique to fully “capture the spirit of Pride UK”.
It is important to note that the 50p coin will not enter circulation, but is rather available for purchase online.
The first Pride protest in the United Kingdom took place in London in 1972, three years after the riots in Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village in New York City started the history of the LGBTQ+ Pride month.