Wishing you a safe, happy - and warm - Pride weekend!

The weather’s not looking bright, but the city is all set to celebrate a fantastic Pride weekend.

Storm Antoni is forecast to bring unseasonably windy and wet weather on Saturday, with a yellow weather warning in place for high winds. Please come prepared with your brightest warm and waterproof clothes!

Pride organisers are working with the council and emergency services to factor the conditions into the event plans. We’re not anticipating any major disruptions but some minor adjustments may need to be made.

Celebrating Pride

The main events get underway on Saturday with the Pride Community Parade setting off from Hove Lawns at 11am, followed by the ‘We Are Fabuloso’ celebrations in Preston Park and the Pride Village Party (PVP) in St James’s Street.

The Fabuloso Pride Festival and the PVP celebrations continue on Sunday.

Visit the Brighton & Hove Pride website for full detail of what’s planned.

This year’s Pride celebrates 50 years since the first ‘Brighton Gay Pride march’ organised by the Sussex Gay Liberation Front in July 1973.

Brighton & Hove City Council’s LGBTQ+ Workers Forum will once again be joining the Pride Community Parade, in this year’s colour theme of orange and black.

Alongside celebrating the vital, vivid and profound contributions our local communities add to the city and country, they’ll be raising awareness of the struggles of LGBTQI+ people across the world in countries where they are persecuted for being LGBTQI+ and cannot enjoy the freedoms and hopes that we enjoy.

You can find out more about these countries and the legal punishments LGBTQI+ people are subject to on the Human Dignity Trust Website.

They'll be carrying huge handmade flags honouring our LGBTQI+, Trans, nonbinary, bisexual communities along with a flock of seagulls. Their mascot this year ‘ThunderGull!’ represents the city’s local, fierce, loyal and loud diverse community.  

They’re joined in the parade by the huge ‘Drum and Blaze’ LGBTQI+ Samba Band, to supply the energy and music.

‘Dare to be different’

Councillor Leslie Pumm, chair of the Equalities, Community Safety & Human Rights Committee, said: “We wish everyone a safe and happy Pride, in spite of the weather!

“As one of the key events in our city’s cultural and community calendar, months of planning goes in to Pride.

“As always, we’re working alongside the Pride organisers, as well as emergency services to plan for a colourful and safe weekend.

“Pride is a celebration of our LGBTQI+ residents and visitors. It is also a protest and a reminder that we have much more to do to achieve equality for all. 

“Brighton & Hove is the LGBTQI+ capital of the UK - that’s who we are and who we’re proud to be. 

“This year’s ‘Dare to be Different’ theme is a call to remember the original protest roots of Pride in the city while encouraging the continued fight for equality for all. 

“We join Pride in celebrating the trailblazers who held the first protest march in the 50 years ago.”

What you need to know!

As the city’s biggest celebration and protest, we’re expecting a busy weekend despite the weather and the train disruption on Saturday. Read our latest travel information.

Many city centre roads will be closed and on-street parking bays suspended for the celebrations.

Bus services will also be affected over the weekend. Trains are running on Sunday and a queuing system will be in place at the station from 4am on Sunday morning.

Read our latest travel information for full details.

Take care of yourself, don’t overdo it and look out for others. If you’re out all day, take a water bottle and dress warmly!

Support is available if you need it, but remember that health services are extremely busy and make sure you use the right services for your needs.

Check our stay safe at Pride advice for all you need to know…    

And please do your bit to help keep Brighton & Hove tidy.

We're working over the weekend to keep on top of litter and cleaning - please help by recycling and disposing of your rubbish responsibly.

We’re putting out 120 extra rubbish and bins along the central seafront and Hove Lawns, as well as in in Valley Gardens, London Road and Dyke Road Drive. Please use them.

Following a busy weekend, it may take a few days to catch up with cleaning in the city centre – please bear with us.

Reporting hate crime and anti-social behaviour

Everyone in Brighton & Hove has a right to feel safe.

We are committed to LGBTQ+ equality and supporting communities harmed by hate crime.

We encourage anyone who has experienced anti-social behaviour or hate incidents, harassment or distress due to their identity, to report it. 

You can do that using our online anti-social behaviour and hate incident reporting form or by contacting our Community Safety team by emailing communitysafety.casework@brighton-hove.gov.uk or calling 01273 292735.

Or you can report hate incidents to Sussex Police on 101 if it’s not an emergency. In an emergency, always call 999.

We’re also working with community partners to offer an option of reporting hate incidents to them in a confidential safe space. 

• Rainbow Hub 
  
  Ledward Centre, Jubilee Street, Brighton, BN1 1UU 
  
  Phone: 07714 782585 
  
  Open: 11am to 4pm, Friday to Sunday 
• Possability People 
  
  Montague House, Montague Place, Brighton, BN2 1JE 
  
  Phone: 01273 894 040 
  
  Open: 10am to 4pm, Monday to Friday 
• Racial Harassment Forum 
  
  Community Base, 113 Queens Road, Brighton BN1 3XG 
  
  Phone: 01273 234 017 or 07563 389482 
  
  Open: 10am to 5pm, Monday to Friday