Life

UK Black Pride announces new date for this year’s protest and celebration

By Conor Clark

24th July 2023

UK Black Pride organisers have announced that this year’s protest and celebration will take place a day earlier than originally planned.

On 19 August, it will return to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park in Stratford, London, where it took place in 2022.

“The event was originally planned for Sunday, 20 August, and the decision to bring the event forward by one day was taken after the Football Association announced a change to its scheduling, meaning a match between West Ham United F.C and Chelsea F.C will be taking place on Sunday, 20 August in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park,” a statement from UK Black Pride said.

“The safety, wellbeing and happiness of our UK Black Pride communities is paramount, and were cognise the potentially dangerous implications of having Black and brown LGBTQIA+ people sharing a space with a football fandom with a long history of racism, homophobia, transphobia and xenophobia.

“The decision to bring the event forward to Saturday, 19 August is one that helps us ensure we can put on a safe and celebratory event for our communities.”

In honour of the event’s 18th anniversary, this year’s theme will be ‘legacy’.

It serves as a nod to almost two decades of progress, which has resulted in the world’s largest celebration of Black and POC LGBTQ+ people.

UK Black Pride is free to attend and organisers will announce the performers and sponsors in due course.

Last year’s UK Black Pride was the “largest Black Pride in the world”

Last year’s UK Black Pride to be held in person since 2019 after the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in 2020 and 2021’s being moved online.

More than 25,000 people attended, which organisers said made it the “largest Black Pride in the world”.

The day saw performances from artists such as Emeli Sandé, Sadie Sinner and Gok Wan, with Dréya Mac delivering a show-stopping headline set.

READ MORE: UK Black Pride: Four queer Black creatives share what ‘power’ means to them

Also present was Heartstopper star Yasmin Finney, who told GAY TIMES that the massive turnout made her “feel really humble”.

Those in attendance were treated to a number of stalls from community-focused groups and organisations, such as the Terrence Higgins Trust, Tonic Housing and NHS Barts Health which was administering free mpox vaccinations.

The theme of ‘power’ was at the core of UK Black Pride last year, something which organisers explained was a way to “honour the power our communities continue to wield to ensure that our communities are defended and supported, loved and protected.”