Pride in Brighton & Hove is a registered charity in England & Wales, No. 1105892. Company registration No. 4838599. Registered office: 6 Bartholomews, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1 1HG.

Our Aim

Pride in Brighton & Hove promotes equality and diversity, and advances education to eliminate discrimination against the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans (LGBT) community. It raises awareness of issues by promoting and staging a series of events including Winter Pride and the annual free summer festival and making grants and/or support to other charitable and voluntary organisations. Our key objective is to develop an environment in favour of LGBT equality by providing information, advice and support.

Information and Resources

• Click here to read the Organisational and Funding Review Executive Summary, November 2007.
• To find out more about what we're about and to download our constitution click here
• To get involved in Pride in Brighton & Hove click here.
• View the Annual Report for year ending October 2009.
• A page of frequently asked questions is available to answer most queries.

Pride... A Bit of Background

The history of Pride in Brighton & Hove stretches back as far as 1992 when there was a very modest afternoon event on The Level. Since then it has evolved into the biggest free Pride festival in the UK and in September 2004 was awarded charitable status. Pride in Brighton & Hove runs a number of exciting events to help fund the organisation, the festival and the support for the local LGBT voluntary sector as well as bringing a wide range of people together who otherwise might not have such social access.

Pride in Brighton & Hove has hosted a week of community events during the Winter and Summer Pride Festivals. In August the Summer Festival culminates in a Pride Parade from the seafront, through the city to a busy festival in Preston Park.

The Pride Festival week, held in the summer, provides the platform and environment to provide events which not only cater for the diverse needs of the local LGBT community, but also act as a focus for LGBT visibility within the wider community. Official estimates indicate that the Pride Parade and Main Park event in 2009 attracted 150,000 visitors. Many of these participants were from the local LGBT community (estimated at around 40,000 people) of all ages, especially those who may otherwise feel marginalised such as LGBT teenagers from Allsorts and those from the Gay Elderly Mens Society. It also attracted many from the LGBT communities in London and rest of the country. Most importantly the wider population of Brighton & Hove join a celebration of the diversity of the city. The event is free to attend for anyone from any community, encouraging the culture of inclusiveness and acceptance of which Brighton & Hove is proud.

The Pride Parade & Main Park event are about community not commerce. The Main Park event is free to enter and there is a variety of community facilities, for example, the Women's Tent, Trans Tent, Line Dancing Tent and Access Tent. There is also recruitment outreach work from the Police forces of Sussex, Hampshire and Kent as well as the local Fire Brigade. Entertainment in the form of dance and cabaret tents is provided by local businesses. We work closely with the council, police and licensing authorities to ensure safe and successful events.

Pride in Brighton & Hove is self-funding in so far as it raises sponsorships, receives a grant from Brighton & Hove City Council and donations from events organised by local businesses and the staging of events throughout the year to raise funds. These also act as a continuing focal point for the local LGBT community. These events bring LGBT people together in a safe environment and the inclusiveness improves self esteem and provides a sense of belonging which helps to diminish the psychological effects of discrimination faced by individuals in daily life. 2010 will see a repeat of many of last year's events including the hugely popular Pride Companion Dog Show.

We facilitated grant-funded workshops for local people to learn skills for developing their own Pride Parade floats and costumes. We involve volunteers from all sectors of the local community and have in the past hosted international volunteers from Concordia.

Our awards

Voted the best Pride in 2003 and 2004 by Gay Times and Boyz magazines and named 'Event of the Year' at the first annual Brighton and Hove Business Awards in 2004. Pink Paper readers voted Pride in Brighton & Hove the 'Best festival'  in 2006 and in 2008 and in 2009 we were runners up with a respectable 2nd place. In 2009 QueerUk voted us their 'Best UK Pride' event. In 2008 and 2009 we walked away from the Golden Handbag Awards with the prestigiuos 'Community' Award.

Thanks to everyone who voted for us in any of these awards, we still have room on the wall for more!