Dozens of paramedics, the majority of whom are heterosexual, are being encouraged to walk along Brighton's seafront in their uniform at this year's Pride festival.
They will be provided with refreshments and driven to and from the resort, all adding to the bill for the taxpayer.

A paramedic who contacted the Daily Mail said South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Trust had decided to pay its workers £40 each to take part in their own time because it was feared that not enough would volunteer for the event.

The money is the equivalent of two hours' overtime pay, although paramedics say the trust has recently stopped paying overtime while they are actually on duty, blaming financial pressure.

The trust, which covers parts of Kent, Sussex and Surrey, has put up posters around its headquarters advertising the August 1 march with an ambulance covered in rainbow-coloured balloons and offering staff free transport to Brighton.

One paramedic said: 'People from the trust went last year but they all attended as volunteers. I heard that the turnout wasn't very high and they wanted to get more people there.
'They've had to bribe people with the overtime cash because the overwhelming majority of staff are straight and not totally comfortable about giving up their free time to go on a gay march.'

TaxPayers' Alliance spokesman Mark Wallace said: 'This is absolutely ridiculous that public money is spent on politically correct stunts.
'If ambulance staff want to go to the march on their own behalf in their own time then that's fine, but there's no way we should pay for them to go on this march. The ambulance service is there to answer 999 calls and not for attending political events.'
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