Birmingham Pride is a weekend-long LGBTQ+ festival held annually in the

Gay Village A gay village, also known as a gayborhood or gaybourhood, is a geographical area with generally recognized boundaries that is inhabited or frequented by many lesbian, gay, bisexuality, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people. Gay vil ...

, Hurst Street,

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

, England, over the spring bank holiday weekend. Birmingham Pride is the UK's largest two-day gay pride festival. It usually features a carnival parade through the city centre, plus dance and musical 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. Fairs showcase a wide range of go ...

rides, a temporary

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

, 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 (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. 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. 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 took place throughout the city's main gay bars and clubs in the Gay Village – culminating in an '' It's a Knockout'' 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 LGBTQ culture in Birmingham, West Midlands Spring (season) in England {{LGBT-event-stub

History

See also

References

Bibliography

External links