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Manchester Pride is a leading
charity Charity may refer to: Giving * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing * C ...
that campaigns for
LGBTQ+ ' is an Acronym, 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 Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term for Sexuality and gende ...
equality Equality may refer to: Society * Political equality, in which all members of a society are of equal standing ** Consociationalism, in which an ethnically, religiously, or linguistically divided state functions by cooperation of each group's elit ...
across the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
, predominantly in
Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...
. The Charity offers dialogue, training, research and policy analysis, advocacy and outreach activities focusing on LGBTQ+ rights. The Manchester Pride Festival is an annual event held on the August bank holiday weekend. It takes place in the Canal Street area, the city's gay village, and fringe locations around the city, while the parade occurs through
Manchester city centre Manchester City Centre is the central business district of Manchester in Greater Manchester, England situated within the confines of Great Ancoats Street, A6042 Trinity Way, and A57(M) Mancunian Way which collectively form an inner ring road. ...
. Events have included MCR Pride Live, the Superbia Weekend, the Gay Village Party, Manchester Pride Parade, Youth Pride MCR, Family Pride, The Human Rights Forum, and the Candlelit Vigil. The parade features various supporting organisations and charities and representative floats from the ten
metropolitan boroughs A metropolitan borough (or metropolitan district) is a type of local government district in England. Created in 1974 by the Local Government Act 1972, metropolitan boroughs are defined in English law as metropolitan districts within metropolit ...
of
Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: Manchester, Salford, Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tam ...
. Manchester Pride's headquarters are in Piccadilly, Manchester City Centre. Manchester Pride had a total income of £3,238,817 in the
financial year A fiscal year (or financial year, or sometimes budget year) is used in government accounting, which varies between countries, and for budget purposes. It is also used for financial reporting by businesses and other organizations. Laws in many ...
ending 31 December 2021, had 10 employees, and used the services of 242 volunteers. Manchester Pride is regarded as one of the leading pride movement's worldwide, often trialling new innovative initiatives. Thus, it has sponsorships with some of the largest corporations worldwide, such as
Virgin Atlantic Virgin Atlantic, a trading name of Virgin Atlantic Airways Limited and Virgin Atlantic International Limited, is a British airline with its head office in Crawley, England. The airline was established in 1984 as British Atlantic Airways, and ...
,
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, Starbucks, Marc Jacobs and L'Oreal. The organisation is managed by a Board of Trustees who are, in turn,
Directors Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...
of the subsidiary companie
Manchester Pride Limited
an
Manchester Pride Events Limited
The Board of Directors delegate operational functions to a paid
Chief Executive Officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especial ...
who is directly accountable to the board for corporate performance.


History

The event commenced August bank holiday 1985 in the gay village, with the support of new Labour Party councillors, elected 1984 who gave the
gay community The LGBT community (also known as the LGBTQ+ community, GLBT community, gay community, or queer community) is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and other queer individuals united by a common culture and ...
their support and appointed a Lesbian and Gay officer, a move inspired by Ken Livingstone. By 1986 Manchester City Council had provided £1700 in funding to hold an event at Oxford St, the bars got together to raise money for AIDS organisations in the city with a lot of support from the gay community, it started as a very small event that people put their efforts into, it was the start of a more organised gay community, in a time of hostility from Police. In 1989 events were for fund raising to provide soft furnishings for the ward at
Monsall Hospital Monsall Hospital was a hospital in North Manchester, England. History The facility was established as a fever hospital by the trustees of Manchester Royal Infirmary, largely because of the insistence of John Leigh, the first Medical Officer of ...
where people received treatment for HIV / AIDS, by 1991 the Village Charity was established and ran the festival then known as Manchester Mardi Gras, 'The Festival of Fun' it raised £15,000. By this time it had expanded to include a full programme of activities from Friday to Monday with a market held in Sackville Park and a fireworks display, funds came from the North West Development Agency. By 1997 the event was notably popular with people of all backgrounds in society, and by 2002 there were 100,000 in attendance. Since 2003 the gay village becomes an enclosed event space across the Manchester Pride weekend and patrons are asked to purchase a pledge-band to access some programmed events and selected Village venues. The funds raised from the sale of pledge-bands helps Manchester Pride achieve its charitable objectives which includes celebrating LGBTQ+ life while providing a platform and employment for local LGBTQ+ people. In 2003, Manchester hosted 'EuroPride'. The ten-day event consisted of sports, music, dance and other cultural activities which culminated in the August bank holiday termed as 'The Big Weekend'. Later, Manchester Pride continued to organise 'The Big Weekend' and became a registered charity outfit in 2007 (charity number 1117848). Manchester Pride organises an annual program for all members of the LGBTQ+ community. In 2013 the charity had loss of more than £16,000 and in 2014 Manchester Pride invited people from the LGBTQ+ community to help shape the way the organisation is run. by 2016 the event raised £149,000 for the Manchester Pride Fund, with The Big Weekend drawing over 170,000 visitors. The parade can be watched by any spectator as it travels from Deansgate. In 2017 the event raised £161,000 for LGBTQ+ charities in Greater Manchester. The parade had over 4,000 participants and nearly 150 entries and attracted tens of thousands of spectators to the city centre. Manchester is the first such parade to include the police, the army and the NHS among its floats. In 2019, it was estimated that 170,000 visitors would attend during the weekend.


Board members

Manchester Pride's board of trustees is composed of the following members: David McGovern (Chair), Michael Christopher Lawlor ( Vice Chair), Victoria Empson, Rajesh Joshi, Max Emmerson, Stephen Bowen, Sharon Pegg, Temiloluwa Nicola Adeyemi Adebayo, Tim Westwood.


Controversy

In August 2021, CEO Mark Fletcher was grilled on
BBC Radio Manchester BBC Radio Manchester is the BBC's local radio station serving Greater Manchester. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at MediaCityUK in Salford Quays. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience o ...
over the organisation's decision to "cut ties" with local charities the LGBT Foundation and George House Trust. Although he denied the claims, stating that Manchester Pride intended to continue funding their schemes, the charities responded with a joint statement denying this. "Hearing that Manchester Pride will continue to fund LGBT Foundation and St George Trust on the radio earlier today contradicts the conversations we have had about our long-standing funding agreements which have been ended by them," they said at the time. "We have not been given any indication of what future funding might look like or on what terms." A drop in charitable donations was put down to a loss of revenue in the wake of
COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickly ...
. However, critics pointed out that the organisation's charitable contributions had dropped pre-pandemic, too. According to
BBC Radio Manchester BBC Radio Manchester is the BBC's local radio station serving Greater Manchester. It broadcasts on FM, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at MediaCityUK in Salford Quays. According to RAJAR, the station has a weekly audience o ...
, in 2018 Manchester Pride
donated A donation is a gift for charity, humanitarian aid, or to benefit a cause. A donation may take various forms, including money, alms, services, or goods such as clothing, toys, food, or vehicles. A donation may satisfy medical needs such as bl ...
nearly £150,000 to charity, around six per cent of its revenue. In 2019 it made a record-breaking £3.94 million – yet its charitable contributions were halved to three per cent, amounting to just £122,000. 2019's event featured a headline performance from Ariana Grande. The pop princess's reported fee of £350,000 for performing accounted for nearly three times the money handed to local charities. As charitable donations steadily dropped, the
Chief Executive A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
also took a £20,000 increase in pay. Fletcher faced calls to resign with a petition being set up by disgruntled campaigners, the petition received over 2,000 signatures in less than 48 hours.


See also

* LGBT Foundation * Stonewall *
Pride in London Pride in London is an annual LGBT pride festival and parade held each summer in London, England. The event, which was formerly run by Pride London, is sometimes referred to as London Pride. Pride in London celebrates the diversity of the LGBTQ ...
* Birmingham Pride


References


External links

* {{Pride parades Pride parades in England LGBT organisations in England LGBT culture in Manchester Culture in Manchester Summer events in England