Pride month is on its way and York is gearing up to celebrate, regardless of the recent challenges the LGBTQ+ community has faced.
Pride month is a month-long celebration that allows members of the LGBTQ+ community and allies to come together to celebrate love, equality, and acceptance by holding events or parades. This is a way for LGBTQ+ members to show their pride for their sexual orientation or gender identity.
Additionally, it also raises awareness about the LGBTQ+ history and how far they have come as a community. Furthermore, it lets people stand in solidarity for other LGBTQ+ individuals who live in places where their rights are not given.
Pride month occurs in June to commemorate the New York City Stonewall riots. On the 28th of June 1969, LGBTQ+ members protested for over six days against police harassment and social discrimination towards the LGBTQ+ community. This marks as one of the most important events in LGBTQ+ history.
Even though the LGBTQ+ community have fought for their rights for decades and still do now, the UK Supreme Court ruled back in April that ‘sex’ means biological sex. This means that a ‘woman’ is a biological woman and a ‘man’ is a biological man. Therefore, the Equality Act 2010 only refers to biological sex assigned at birth. This is a major setback as it enables the exclusion of trans people from single-sex spaces and potentially limits them from pursuing equal pay claims.
Furthermore, a shop in the York City Centre was targeted with a hate crime between 6pm on March 22nd and 10am on March 23rd. The This Shop Is So Gay store on Parliament Street had a pride flag ripped down from a flag pole that was located outside the shop, causing damage to the flagpole and brick work of the building. This is concerning as the shop has only opened in March of this year and has already experienced a hate-crime-related damage.
Thankfully, online supporters set up a fundraiser with a target of £100 to repair the flag. The fundraiser raised nearly a thousand pounds overnight, which included a lot of small donations.
Residents and visitors to York can show their support for the LGBTQ+ community by attending any of the York Pride events.
York Pride
York Pride 2025 returns on the 7th of June and is one of the biggest LGBTQ+ celebrations in North Yorkshire!
York Pride starts off with a parade march through the city centre to Knavesmire, where the festival is being held. The purpose of the parade is to march for equality and human rights for the LGBTQ+ community around the world. The parade will have a new route this year and the new starting point will be announced on York Pride’s social media and website.
York’s biggest free one-day festival will be held on Knavesmire road and the number of attendees is expected to surpass last year’s, which had more than 17,500 people show up.
The 2025 Main Stage line up has already been announced with many amazing artists performing, including The Angels of the North, who will be headlining the main stage.
These are the current performances planned for the main stage:
12:30 – DJ Rory Hoy
13:00 – Miss Diagnosis
13:05 – Reese Wetherspoon
13:10 – Ryan Petitjean
13:35 – Pet Shop Boys, Actually (Tribute)
14:00 – Marcus Collins
14:20 – York Pride Committee Welcome
14:30 – Eva Iglesias
15:15 – Soraya Vivian
15:35 – Janice D
16:00 – La Voix
16:30 – Making It Madonna (Tribute)
17:00 – York Pride Drag Race: Lip Sync For The Crowd Starring Luna Hex and Robynne Ryske
17:15 – Kerry Ellis
17:35 – The Cheeky Girls
18:00 – The Angels of the North
As York Pride is a free event, wristbands are one of the main sources of funding. The wristbands give you access to discounts from supporting businesses and attractions for 2025 and free entry into the official York Pride After Party before 10pm – and buyers get to chose which 2025 wristband design they want!
