“We are on a mission to make Portsmouth the city for UK Pride in 2025” – that’s the message of volunteers behind Portsmouth Pride which celebrates and supports the LGBTQ+ community in the city.
The bid shall soon be submitted to the UK Pride Organisers Network (UKPON) and will showcase why Portsmouth should host this honour.
The experienced volunteer team will now be working hard to prepare a full bid, in collaboration with local businesses and community organisations highlighting Portsmouth Pride’s achievements and ambitions.
This will be reviewed by more than 130 Pride organisations who are members of UKPON – which includes Portsmouth Pride – who will have the opportunity to review the bid ahead of the annual UKPON conference in November.
At the conference, representatives of Portsmouth Pride will deliver a presentation to support the bid. Once that has been presented, the membership will vote for who they believe should host UK Pride for 2025.
Tally Aslam, the Chair of Portsmouth Pride, says the city’s Pride organisation is in a strong position to submit the bid. She said “We are extremely excited to announce that we are formally bidding to host UK Pride in Portsmouth in 2025, to celebrate 10 years of Portsmouth Pride, bringing the whole country’s attention to Portsmouth as a leading city for inclusivity. The title of UK Pride is awarded to a different town/city every year and we want to show the UK what Pride in Portsmouth looks like, and to bring a whole group of new visitors to the city as we secure our place as an LGBTQ+ seaside destination. Having the incredible team in place, plus our principle of being free and unfenced means we’re now in a really strong position to push ahead and develop our next two years of growth.”
The announcement of the bid took place at the official Portsmouth Pride launch event hosted by the Spinnaker Tower recently. The evening was an opportunity for members from across the community, including politicians and business owners, to come together to kick off the official countdown to the Portsmouth Pride Main Day event on 10th June.
CP, the Vice Chair of Portsmouth Pride, says it’s an exciting time for the city and the community. He said “We’re excited to be bidding to bring UK Pride to Portsmouth in 2025 and have been overwhelmed by the support already given by local businesses, political and civic leaders. As one of the biggest free, unfenced and community-focussed pride events in the country, we’d love to show the UK what we do so well in Portsmouth.”
