Lancaster Pride 2018 is going to be AWESOME - and we need your help

Lancaster Pride (“LP”) ran for the first time on Saturday 20 May 2017. It was organised by LGBT Out In The Bay, a local charity which provides support to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender community in the Lancaster district – as well as raising support for LGBT issues and campaigns.

Last year, LP attracted in excess of 1,600 people. We celebrated diversity, equality and social inclusion for the LGBT community, and its friends and supporters. The feedback was great – both from the LGBT community, and from the general public. (We also gathered much-needed data to help us work out how best to keep supporting the LGBT community).

LP has now been established as a stand-alone entity and registered charity. We're repeating the event this year, bigger and better, so as to build on the considerable support we gained last year.

The main event will (again) be a march/parade, and we have some great acts performing. These include internationally-acclaimed music act Whigfield (http://www.whigfield.com/ ), and the very fab Ross Alexander (https://www.rossalexander.net/ ). There'll also be masses of stalls and a street fair.

Like all Pride events, LP meets a much-needed role in the Lancaster District: it awakens public awareness and acceptance for a group of people who often suffer from discrimination, marginalisation or victimisation. It also helps celebrate the considerable diversity of sexuality and gender identity in our region.

The 2017 event was a big step in this direction, but more - much more - is needed. We aim, through LP2018, to build on the momentum of LP2017. Our vision is that discrimination, marginalisation and isolation within the LGBT community will one day become a thing of the past, and that people of all sexualities and gender identities will be respected and supported equally. But there's a long way to go before this becomes reality. Events such as LP are invaluable stepping-stones towards the true elimination of inequality. Join us, support us!