UK Black Pride celebrates its 15th birthday

Wednesday, 22 July 2020

On Sunday, August 16th 2020 UK Black Pride will turn 15 and to celebrate we’ll be hosting a day of celebrations live streamed, including performances, live DJ sessions and speakers; alongside a series of virtual rooms hosted by our partners within the community.

When Lady Phyll and a busload of Black lesbians traveled to Southend-on-Sea in 2005 for the first UK Black Pride, no one could have imagined just how big this safe and brave space would grow.

UK Black Pride has become Europe’s largest celebration for LGBTQ people of African, Asian, Caribbean, Middle Eastern and Latin American descent, but more than that, UK Black Pride is also a movement. We deserve spaces to call our own, where we can celebrate who we are safely. We deserve to be surrounded by people who love us, who understand us and who want to see us win. We deserve moments in which we can breathe, relax, let our hair down, where we don’t have to worry about explaining our existence to others. We deserve to find joy publicly, loudly and with abandon.

UK Black Pride has become a home for many. From the volunteers who work year round to support the communities we represent, to those who attend the annual event, each finds a space to exhale, to find joy and to feel safe.

The fact of the matter is, too many of us don’t have safe spaces we can go back to, or family who love us without conditions and expectations. We all come from a long-line of queer people of colour who have fought to create homes that live up to their definition: a place where we are loved, respected and cared for.

To celebrate our 15th birthday and to reaffirm our commitment to our communities, UK Black Pride’s 2020 theme is “Home”. We hope to always be that place you feel you can come to when your feet are tired and your heart is heavy. We hope to continue to create spaces for you all that remind you that with us is one of the places where you belong.

Join us for our birthday celebrations at www.ukblackpride.org.uk from midday until 6pm.

“I’m so grateful that UK Black Pride is celebrating its 15th birthday. You all make UK Black Pride what it is. I can’t wait to see you all soon.”