Bourne Free is an annual

pride festival A pride parade (also known as pride march, pride event, or pride festival) is an outdoor event celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) social and self-acceptance, achievements, legal rights, and pride. The events ...

in Bournemouth,

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 b ...

History

The festival was established in 2004 when a far right organisation was due to come to Bournemouth to demonstrate against

homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...

. Many prominent figures and active members of the LGBT community in the area came together to organise an event in the Lower Gardens to defend LGBT people from the event and create a day of celebration rather than hostility. The event included entertainment at The Bandstand, a balloon release with a two-minute silence for victims of hate crime, and Bournemouth's first

Gay Pride LGBT pride (also known as gay pride or simply pride) is the promotion of the self-affirmation, dignity, equality, and increased visibility of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people as a social group. Pride, as opposed to s ...

march. The Bourne Free committee that had organised the event continued organising Bourne Free as an annual

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 ...

event. In 2006, event was renamed as the Bourne Free Pride Festival. In 2008 the Pride Parade moved onto the streets of Bournemouth. An estimated more than 4,000 people attended the event that year. In 2020 the event was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The event returned in person in 2021. Themes for the event include "Paint the World with your Pride" (2019) and "Stronger Together" (2021).

External links

Official Bourne Free Pride Festival website

References

Pride parades in England Tourist attractions in Bournemouth Festivals in Dorset Recurring events established in 2004 2004 establishments in England {{LGBT-event-stub