Manchester Pride Parade

The famous Manchester Pride Parade is the city’s biggest parade, grinding traffic to a halt as tens of thousands of LGBTQ+ people and their allies march together for equality. Thousands more line the streets to watch the spectacular parade of colours.

Angel, a member of Out in The City, reviewed the event:

“On Saturday, 27 August was Manchester’s Gay Pride March. Over two and a half hours parade.

As always, the march was opened by the local authorities, because the event is sponsored by the public administration. Most of the floats are for publicity. Businesses expressing their support for diversity. They paraded all supermarkets, banks, service companies, airlines and travel companies, dealerships such as Mercedes and Tesla, restaurants, gyms, football and rugby teams and even Loreal Paris. Not surprising at all about the work of “marketing” in a city that was ultimately the cradle of capitalism.

They also paraded the town halls that make up “Greater Manchester”, Universities, political parties and all public services: the NHS (Health), Police, Firefighters and even Army veterans. Firefighters carried a sign: “Fire doesn’t discriminate, neither do we.”

Many NGOs (“Charities” in England) paraded, such as the George House Trust, fighting the stigma of HIV and Amnesty International, calling for respect for human rights in countries that still persecute the LGBT collective, such as Rwanda. Also Scottish in Manchester and a group promoting the upcoming Eurovision in the city.

Personally, I find it very remarkable that groups of believers from various religions participated in the parade: Christians from various churches, Muslims, Jews and Catholics. They call on their religious representatives to end discrimination because of their sexual status. Religious intolerance is one of the few pending subjects in a city where respect for sexual diversity is at its peak.”

A few photos can be seen here.

The Candlelit Vigil

The Candlelit Vigil (at 9.00pm, Monday 29 August) provides a moment of reflection to remember those we have lost to HIV/AIDS. The Vigil also presents an opportunity to stand together unified against the discrimination and stigma that LGBTQ+ people still face today.