Many prides decided to postpone their events until 2021, so many will have the same theme or indeed entertainment acts and speakers that were planned for their 2020 festivals. Even now, many prides including Brighton Pride and Warwickshire, both are usually in August, have decided to cancel their events until 2022 at the earliest.
Officially Pride Month is in June in 2021 to coincide with the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.
Where did Pride Month originate?
Pride Month stemmed from the US, which has been adopted more widely across the world, but in reality, there are many Pride months across the globe. For instance, Sydney Mardi Gras, Australia’s biggest pride takes place in February (although they do have a Pride festival in June) and here in the UK, there isn’t such thing as one month for Pride.
In the US most prides happen in the month of June to coincide with the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall Riots, in the UK however things are a little more spread out with more and more county, city and town prides becoming available.
In 2019 the town of Llanelli in South Wales celebrated it’s first pride.
Want to know more about prides, see our entire collection of Pride articles here. Want to shop for Pride Merchandise, visit our partner retailer, THE PRIDE SHOP.
After a year of cancelled events in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, some of the UK’s prides have announced that they are coming back for 2021. Good news for the Pride 2021 season though, Some prides have already had to cancel and some have had to change their dates to fit in with the government guidelines.
So here’s the current list of UK prides and when they’re expected to take place, brought to you in connection with The Pride Shop.
Some of the pride events have yet to confirm their 2020 dates, when they have we’ll update them on this page!
Some Pride Dates 2021 are still To Be Confirmed.
Pride 2021 Scotland
Aberdeen Pride / Grampian Pride | Online only for 2021 | Facebook
The dates for Manchester Pride have been announced by the organisers and it’s in its normal date slot at the end of August 2021.
In keeping with tradition, Manchester Pride has announced that it is returning to the streets of Manchester on the 27th-30th August 2021, after it was forced to cancel its events in 2020, due to COVID-19.
Dates for Manchester Pride 2021
The charity is planning to hold its flagship Manchester Pride Festival, in partnership with Virgin Atlantic, in its regular spot in the city’s calendar from Friday 27 August until Monday 30 August.
On 22nd February the UK Prime Minister outlined England’s roadmap out of lockdown, offering hope that live events will return this summer. But with the pandemic always front of mind, the team which works year-round to organise the four-day festival, has indicated that it has alternative exciting plans which can be activated if the proposed dates for the roadmap out of lockdown change.
The four day event, which brings thousands of people to the city centre each year, is set to return for another weekend of campaigning, celebrating and fundraising for LGBTQ+ life, featuring activism, equality, youth and family, arts and culture, community and partying!
The team behind the festival is working towards the delivery of a programme that includes all of the traditional elements expected by visitors with some tweaks and allowances for the new restrictions as a result of the COVID 19 pandemic.
The biggest difference will be a reduced capacity MCR Pride Live, which in response to audience feedback will be held at a smaller venue to ensure that the event is accessible, safe and viable.
With the safety and comfort of festival-goers, artists, stakeholders, artists and the Manchester Pride team the event’s capacity will be reduced by 50%. The venue for the event will be revealed later on this year.
FAMILY PRIDE MCR, 28 August 2021+ MORE TO BE ANNOUNCED
Mark Fletcher, CEO of Manchester Pride, said; “Manchester Pride is proud to part of a global Pride movement that celebrates advancements in equality and challenges discrimination faced by LGBTQ+ people. As both a charity and organisers one of the UK’s largest Pride festivals, we had to fight for our survival throughout 2020.
“Having to postpone the Manchester Pride Festival in 2020 was necessary but extremely hard for myself and the team and I am so pleased that we are able to plan for an event in 2021. Naturally there is some uncertainty over what will happen in the coming months but we have to plan now in order to be able to deliver a festival of this scale.
“We are confident that by reducing the capacity of MCR Pride Live we can deliver the event, as long as the government’s plans for vaccinations and reopening of events and hospitality remain on track. With the health and safety of everyone involved our key priority, we remain cautiously optimistic and have plans in place to respond to a number of potential scenarios.
“Whatever happens Manchester Pride will deliver a celebration of LGBTQ+ life in Greater Manchester this August and we will do everything we can to make it a Covid safe, live, in-person event across the city. If this just isn’t possible then we will host an alternative, innovative, world-class celebration that incorporates socially distanced events and digital elements to ensure that LGBTQ+ people in Greater Manchester can come together to celebrate and ensure that our campaign for greater LGBTQ+ equality continues at this vital time.”
Juha Jarvinen, Chief Commercial Officer at Virgin Atlantic commented; “We’re delighted that the Manchester Pride Festival is back for 2021 uniting people to celebrate LGBTQ+ culture. It’s been a difficult year for everyone and we look forward to working with Mark and the team to bring this much-loved festival safely back to the heart of Manchester.”
“Virgin Atlantic has long been staunch supporters of LGBTQ+ rights and we strongly believe in making our business as inclusive and welcoming as possible. Although we haven’t been flying as many passengers as we’d like over the last year, we certainly haven’t been sitting still. We are working with Open for Business to show the economic impact that anti-LGBTQ+ laws have on countries around the world and how these laws restrict tourism and limit growth. In a post-Covid world, as travel and tourism recovers, it’s more important than ever for destinations to be open and welcoming to everyone.
“It’s an exciting time for us and as travel restrictions relax, we look forward to welcoming people back on board Virgin Atlantic, flying them safely from Manchester to their favourite destinations including Orlando, Barbados, New York, Los Angeles, Islamabad (where homosexuality is illegal) and Atlanta.”
Tickets for all events, from Superbia Weekend to Youth Pride MCR, will be released over the coming months. For those who bought tickets for the events due to take place in 2020 tickets were automatically rolled over to 2021. Should the event be cancelled or rescheduled, all tickets will be automatically rolled over to 2022. Anyone who does not wish to roll forward their ticket will have the option for a refund of the face value of the ticket.
The dates for Pride In London have been announced by the organisers and it’s in a completely new month. Normally Pride In London takes place in the middle of the summer around the end of June or the beginning of July.
However, Pride In London 2021 will take place in early September, to help create a lengthy gap between when the government hopes large scale events can start again, on the 21st June and its own event, the biggest Pride Parade in the UK.
New date for Pride In London 2021
Today Pride In London confirmed that the new date for London’s very own pride would be the 11th September 2021.
Following the UK Government’s recently announced timetable for easing of lockdown restrictions, Pride in London – the UK’s largest Pride event – will be returning to the capital on the weekend of 11th September 2021.
Michael Salter-Church MBE and Alison Camps, Co-Chairs of Pride in London, said, “We’re delighted to announce that Pride in London will take place on the weekend of the 11th September. Now we have the roadmap from the Government, we’re working closely with the Mayor’s office, Westminster City Council and other key bodies in London to finalise what our plans will look like. We’ll be announcing further details of the event, including what format it will take and how to participate or volunteer, in due course. We will continue to monitor and adhere to the necessary health guidance.
“Naturally we can’t wait to bring all of our wonderful communities together again and stand with them to champion LGBT+ rights across the capital and beyond. In addition to the plans for September, we’re working on a way to appropriately mark Pride’s traditional anniversary in the summer.
“In the meantime, our communities have their final chance today to complete our short consultation survey and let us know what they’d like to see from Pride in London this year.”
As 2021 looks to be a more successful year for Pride across the UK, this is when it’s officially Pride Month in the UK.
After Pride season was all but wiped out in 2020 due to Coronavirus, here’s hoping 2021 will be a little more successful for local prides around the UK.
Many prides decided to postpone their events until 2021, so many will have the same theme or indeed entertainment acts and speakers that were planned for their 2020 festivals.
Officially Pride Month is in June in 2021 to coincide with the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots.
Where did Pride Month originate?
Pride Month stemmed from the US, which has been adopted more widely across the world, but in reality, there are many Pride months across the globe. For instance, Sydney Mardi Gras, Australia’s biggest pride takes place in February (although they do have a Pride festival in June) and here in the UK, there isn’t such thing as one month for Pride.
In the US most prides happen in the month of June to coincide with the anniversary of the 1969 Stonewall Riots, in the UK however things are a little more spread out with more and more county, city and town prides becoming available.
In 2019 the town of Llanelli in South Wales celebrated it’s first pride.
Want to know more about prides, see our entire collection of Pride articles here. Want to shop for Pride Merchandise, visit our partner retailer, THE PRIDE SHOP.
