We recently announced that we will deliver three days of virtual celebrations for LGBTQ+ people in Greater Manchester over the August bank holiday weekend in a bid to reduce the impact of social isolation through celebration.
We are reaching out to LGBTQ+ people across the region inviting you to come forward to be part of our Alternative Manchester Pride Parade. The Parade, which will this year be filmed in advance to keep it safe for those taking part!
As announced in February this year, the theme is March for Peace and given the current climate and movements that have that taken place globally this year, we believe its more important than ever to highlight the diversity of LGBTQ+ communities and their own unique reasons for joining the Pride to protest each year. We are calling on all LGBTQ+ communities to come together, respect the labels, embrace differences, and to recognise that everyone deserves the right to be who they are and live their lives in peace.
During the summer of 1967, thousands of flower children streamed across America searching for peace. Many members of the LGBTQ+ communities saw the developments of that time as guiding the way to greater liberation, however, over 50 years later the community - both globally and here at home in the UK - must continue its fight for equal rights.
- While LGBTQ+ people have achieved so much since then, homophobic and transphobic hate crimes have more than doubled over the last five years, with many people still facing discrimination because of their identity.
- More than half of all black, Asian and minority ethnic LGBTQ+ people have reported experiencing discrimination or poor treatment within their local LGBTQ+ network because of their ethnicity and almost half of trans people have attempted suicide at least once and 84% have thought about it.
- A quarter of homeless people identify as LGBTQ+, with 77% of these citing coming out to their parents as the reason for them being made homeless.
This is why we have chosen to March for Peace, with its message loud and clear: no one is free until we are all free, and no one gets left behind. We are committed to ensuring that Manchester Pride’s Parade entry is diverse, inclusive and representative of the whole LGBTQ+ community
The festival will feature individuals from LGBTQ+ organisations that are partners with or have been supported by Manchester Pride, some well known faces and twenty members of the community at large. Those wanting to apply take part should apply by filling in the below form.
