Norwich Pride is an annual LGBT pride event and registered charity in the city of Norwich, England, first founded in 2009 by the Norwich Pride Committee. It organises a pride parade from City Hall to Chapelfield Gardens, where it is often centered, as well as associated events on the last Saturday in July each year.[1]
History
The first Norwich Pride in 2009 ran from Friday 24 to Sunday 26 July[2] and was attended by approximately 3,000 people.[3] The slogan for the event was "let's turn Norwich into a rainbow," and most of its funding came from trade unions. Events included 'Camp It Up Cabaret' on the Friday and the first Norwich pride parade on the Saturday from Chapelfield Gardens to the Forum, which was launched by the Lord Mayor of Norwich and preceded by an Oxjam concert organised by Oxfam.[2][4] A multi-faith service was held at St Peter Mancroft Church that afternoon.[5] The event was attended by prominent LGBT human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell.[2] Some Christians attended anti-LGBT protests during the procession and handed out leaflets which included words deemed "hateful" and "violently offensive" by Norwich Pride organisers.[6]
In 2010, an interfaith church service was held at the Octagon Chapel in the city entitled Coming Out as a Spiritual Practice on the day of the parade, in an attempt to avert the "religious prejudice" seen at the parade the previous year.[6] Other events aside from the parade to the Forum included lectures and a Ladyfest concert headlined by Viv Albertine of punk band The Slits.[3]
Tatchell again attended the event in 2011, and participated in a "Question Time style debate" with MP Chloe Smith. It was again supported by the city's Lord Mayor.[7]
Organisations such as anti-domestic violence charity Broken Rainbow, school advocacy charity Educate and Celebrate and trade union Unison attended the 2015 event.[8]
In 2016, insurance company Aviva began sponsoring Norwich Pride.[9]
The 2018 march was attended by approximately 10,000 people, and featured a "rainbow river," a fifty-metre long pride flag that was carried through the parade.[11] Event organisers estimated that 10,000 people also attended the event in 2019.[12]
In 2020, the parade was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[13] Despite this, the march was recreated in digital form using video clips of people taking part. The event also adopted the progress pride flag designed by Daniel Quasar for the first time, which was projected onto the walls of Norwich Castle.[14]
The 2021 event was also called off due to continued safety concerns about the pandemic. Instead, smaller events took place around the city, working with local venues and businesses.[15]
Norwich Pride returned for the first time after the pandemic in June 2022.[13] That year, Aviva became the event's main sponsor.[9]
A bus wrapped in Pride colours was introduced in 2023
For the 2023 event, a bus wrapped in the colours of the pride flag was unveiled in May.[16] The event itself included five stages across the city centre, as well as an art exhibition and a makers' market.[17][18]
Prior to the 2024 event, Aviva stated that it would no longer sponsor Norwich Pride after members of Norwich Trans Pride called for organisers to drop the company "in solidarity with our siblings facing a genocide in Palestine", due to its investments in Barclays, which itself had ties to defence companies supplying Israel as well as fossil fuel firms. Aviva cited the "safety of our people at the event" as the main reason it made the decision to pull out, but said that they "remain[ed] committed to the Pride agenda".[9] The Norwich Labour Group was told not to display their party flag during the parade due to anger concerning the policies of Wes Streeting.[19]
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