Birmingham Pride is a weekend-long

LGBTQ+ ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is ...

festival held annually in the

Gay Village A gay village is a geographical area with generally recognized boundaries that is inhabited or frequented by many lesbian, gay, bisexuality, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBT) people. Gay villages often contain a number of gay-orien ...

Hurst Street Hurst Street is the main street of the Birmingham Gay Village and is located along the edge of the Chinese Quarter of Birmingham, England.BBCDavid Parker, "Chinese People in Birmingham: A Brief History by Dr. David Parker," January 2003 access ...

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, over the Spring Bank Holiday weekend. Birmingham Pride is the UK's largest two-day gay pride festival. It usually features a

carnival Carnival is a Catholic Christian festive season that occurs before the liturgical season of Lent. The main events typically occur during February or early March, during the period historically known as Shrovetide (or Pre-Lent). Carnival t ...

parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually celebrations of s ...

through the city centre (but the 2008 parade was cancelled), plus

dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire ...

and

music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspe ...

al events,

funfair A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks. Types Variations of fairs incl ...

rides, a temporary

village green A village green is a common open area within a village or other settlement. Historically, a village green was common grassland with a pond for watering cattle and other stock, often at the edge of a rural settlement, used for gathering cattle t ...

, and street stalls and entertainments.

History

The first Birmingham Gay Pride Weekend took place on 8–9 July 1977, one week after the first London Gay Pride Week, itself the first Gay Pride Rally to take place outside the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

. Although "hastily arranged and not very well conceived", the Birmingham event featured dances, two "Gay Days" in Cannon Hill Park and a march up New Street from the Bull Ring, culminating in a small rally on the steps of

Birmingham Town Hall Birmingham Town Hall is a concert hall and venue for popular assemblies opened in 1834 and situated in Victoria Square, Birmingham, England. It is a Grade I listed building. The hall underwent a major renovation between 2002 and 2007. It no ...

. According to one of its organisers "Our aim was to announce ourselves and let Birmingham know gay people were here: ‘Here we are and here we’ll stay’" Two or three further such events were organised by Birmingham Gay Liberation Front until the organisation declined in the mid 1970s. Annual gay festivals in Birmingham resumed in 1983 with the first "Five Days of Fun", originally known as "Gay Brum". Unlike the 1970s Pride weekends and the earlier "Gay Days", Five Days of Fun was not intended as a political statement but as a social event and celebration. Daytime and evening events would take place throughout the city's main gay bars and clubs in the

village A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred ...

– culminating in an ''

It's a Knockout ''It's a Knockout!'' is a British game show first broadcast in 1966. It was adapted from the French show '' Intervilles'', and was part of the international '' Jeux sans frontières'' franchise. History The series was broadcast on BBC1 from 7 ...

'' competition between teams of the venues' staff, held in the garden/swimming pool at The Grosvenor House Hotel, Hagley Road, Edgbaston.

References

Bibliography

External links

Birmingham Pride Official SiteBirmingham Pride 2009
- BBC Birmingham, May 2009
Views on Birmingham Pride
- BBC Birmingham, 2008
Pride - The Real Rainbow
- BBC Birmingham, 2005
Birmingham's Gay Village
- BBC Birmingham

Festivals in Birmingham, West Midlands Community organisations in Birmingham, West Midlands Pride parades in England 1972 establishments in England Recurring events established in 1972 LGBT culture in Birmingham, West Midlands Spring (season) events in England {{LGBT-event-stub

History

See also

References

Bibliography

External links