Brighton Pride

Brighton and Hove Pride is an annual event held in the city of Brighton and Hove, England, organised by Brighton Pride, a community interest company (CIC) who promote equality and diversity, and advance education to eliminate discrimination against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans (LGBT) community.

Brighton & Hove Pride
Crowds at Brighton Pride in 2016
Frequency	Annually
Location(s)	Brighton, England
Years active	1972–present
Founded	1972 (1972)
Founders	Sussex Gay Liberation Front
Most recent	2 August 2019 (2019-08-02) – 4 August 2019 (2019-08-04)
Next event	6 August 2021 (2021-08-06) – 8 August 2021 (2021-08-08)
Attendance	450,000
Website	http://www.brighton-pride.org/

The major event is an annual summer festival held in the first week of August,[1] which usually consists of a parade through the city centre, a festival event in Preston Park, the Gay Village Party and other club parties. Since 2013, it has also included an Arts and Film Festival and a Pride Dog Show.

Pride attracts an estimated 450,000 to the city over the Pride weekend across the Pride parade, Pride in the Park festival, and related events[2][3] and brings 2% of the city's annual visitors in one day[3] and an estimated £20.5 million to the city's economy,[4] credited as one of the main ways Brighton has boosted its economy from tourism.[5]

History

Brighton and Hove Pride began with a gay demonstration in Brighton in October 1972 by The Sussex Gay Liberation Front (SGLF) and a full pride march in July 1973.[6]

Pride returned to the city in 1991 with the Brighton Area Action Against Section 28 which brought hundreds to the streets.[7] The first contemporary Pride took place in 1992 and began to increase significantly in size in future years with the support of sponsors, pubs, clubs and drag artists. Since 1996, the park festival has been based at Preston Park.

Pride events have traditionally been an environment for celebrating the diversity of the lesbian and gay community. In 2002 Pride in Brighton & Hove agreed to explicitly include and reference the trans community making that year's Pride for the first time an LGBT event. [8]

In 2004, Brighton Pride became a charity, to develop the event, to advance public education – by raising awareness of issues affecting LGBT people, and to make grants and donations to other charitable and voluntary organisations in the area. In 2011, organisers controversially introduced an entry fee to the park festival, as the company was in financial ruin and ran up over £200,000 in debt.[9] Since 2012, Pride has been under new management[10] and has raised over £922,000 for local LGBT community groups over the past six years.[11] The theme of the most recent event in 2019 was 'Generations of Love', which commemorates the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots in the US, seen as a watershed moment for gay rights and the starting point for the Pride movement.

In 2020, the event's 30th anniversary celebrations were postponed to the following year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[12]

Pride festival

The weekend includes:

• The traditional community parade with floats, starting from the seafront via London Road to the Park
• Pride in the Park festival in Preston Park with headlining acts
• The Pride Village Party (PVP) in Kemptown and the seafront
• Several club parties around the city including Pleasure Gardens in Old Steine
• An Arts and Film Festival
• A Pride Dog Show

Headliners

Below is a list of artists who have headlined, or are planned to headline, on the main stage at Brighton Pride.[13]

Year	Date	Headliner(s)	Other Main Stage Artists
2012	Saturday 1 September	Alexandra Burke	Freemasons (band), Fatboy Slim
2013	Saturday 3 August	Paloma Faith	Alison Moyet, MKS, Stooshe, Ms Dynamite
2014	Saturday 2 August	Blue	Collabro, Heather Peace, Neon Jungle, Kimberly Wyatt, Katy B, Sam Bailey
2015	Saturday 1 August	The Human League	Bright Light Bright Light, Ella Henderson, Fatboy Slim, Foxes, Kelli-Leigh, Ms Dynamite, Tulisa
2016	Saturday 6 August	Sister Sledge	Carly Rae Jepsen, Anne-Marie, Alesha Dixon, DJ Fresh, Dua Lipa, Fleur East, Imani Williams, Seann Miley Moore
2017	Saturday 5 August	Pet Shop Boys	Years & Years, Becky Hill, Fickle Friends, KStewart, Louisa Johnson, M.O
2018	Saturday 4 August	Britney Spears	Ella Eyre, Pixie Lott, Louise Redknapp, MNEK, Mabel
	Sunday 5 August	Nile Rodgers & Chic	Jess Glynne, RAYE, Gabrielle, House Gospel Choir
2019	Saturday 3 August	Kylie Minogue	Clean Bandit, Fleur East, Björn Again, Zak Abel, Rina Sawayama, Alice Chater, Emeli Sandé
	Sunday 4 August	Jessie J, Grace Jones	Rak-Su, Nina Nesbitt, House Gospel Choir, Grace Carter
2020	Saturday 1 August	Mariah Carey	Bananarama
	Sunday 2 August	The Pussycat Dolls	Todrick Hall
2021	Saturday 7 August
	Sunday 8 August

See also

• Kemptown, Brighton
• Gay Liberation Front
• LGBT community of Brighton and Hove

References

1. "All About Pride". Archived from the original on 4 August 2005.
2. "Brighton Pride 2018 was biggest one yet". The Argus. 6 August 2018.
3. "Police say 450,000 people flocked to the city during Pride weekend – Brighton & Hove Independent". Brightonandhoveindependent.co.uk. 6 August 2018.
4. "How Pride brings the money pouring in". The Argus. 24 August 2019.
5. Bowden, Geoffrey (10 September 2013). "How Brighton has boosted tourism with Pride, marathons, rugby and Turner". the Guardian. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
6. Simon Chilton. "Brighton Ourstory :: A History of Lesbian & Gay Brighton Chapter 3: Out of the Closet, 1967–87". Brightonourstory.co.uk. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
7. Simon Chilton. "Brighton Ourstory :: A History of Lesbian & Gay Brighton Chapter 4: A Community Comes of Age, 1988–2001". Brightonourstory.co.uk. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
8. "Putting the 'T' in LGBT Brighton Pride 2002". Gscene.com. 25 June 2016.
9. "Will Brighton Pride come before a fall?". The Argus. Retrieved 14 February 2018.
10. "Brighton Pride 2012 confirmed". Pink News. 7 March 2012.
11. Tim Firmager (9 February 2019). "Brighton and Hove Pride 2019 – the headliners". Vada Magazine.
12. "Brighton Pride COVID-19 announcement". Twitter. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
13. "Brighton & Hove Pride – Pride In The Park". Brighton Pride. 8 October 2019. Described by The Guardian as "the country’s most popular LGBT+ event," hundreds of thousands of partygoers have come out in years gone by to see a host of performances from international superstars Britney Spears, Kylie Minogue, Grace Jones, Nile Rodgers & Chic, Jessie J, Clean Bandit, Jess Glynne, Emeli Sandé, Dua Lipa, Ella Eyre, Paloma Faith, Sister Sledge, Anne Marie, Carly Rae Jepsen, Pet Shop Boys, Years & Years, Fatboy Slim, The Human League, Boy George, MNEK, House Gospel Choir, Gabrielle and loads more...

External links

• Official Brighton Pride website