Sheffield Radical Pride have announced a Pride march through Sheffield City Centre on the 22nd of July, the same weekend that 100,000 people will gather in the city for Tramlines festival.
The march will be Sheffield’s only Pride event this year and has been organised by activists who say they want to, “bring the protest back to Pride.” The organisers have stated they will not be accepting corporate sponsorship and have banned the police from attending the march. This will be followed by a static event and activities planned around Sheffield throughout the day with organisers releasing details in the coming weeks.
“The inclusion of corporations and government bodies goes entirely against the spirit of Pride. Pride was a protest against police violence and over 50 years later, our lives are still at risk.”
Sheffield Radical Pride
“One in five of us have experienced homelessness, rising to 25% if we’re trans yet Sheffield Council’s 24-page Homelessness Prevention strategy has no mention of how to tackle this. The police might be seen wearing rainbow badges on their uniforms, or paying their way into the corporate funded Pride events, but the police continue to build their long history of hurting, not protecting, the queer community.”
“No amount of glitter or rainbow flags can cover up the fact the state does not protect the queer community.”
In recent years, Sheffield has struggled to consistently organise a Pride event and in 2018 organisers banned political organisations from attending. Activists from Sheffield Radical Pride say that as Pride has entered the mainstream, it has become disconnected from its political roots; choosing commercialisation, corporate sponsorship and pinkwashing over queer liberation.
This announcement comes after Sheffield Radical Pride organised a protest in April following the International Trans Day of Visibility. The organisation is encouraging queer people across the city and beyond to get involved and return Pride to its grassroots protest origins, “Sheffield Radical Pride calls all queers and those fighting oppression to join us on 22nd July. Join a long and proud history of communities coming together; to celebrate who we have loved and lost, what we have won and to build energy for all that needs to come – we want everything,” said a spokesperson.
Image: Eleanor Andrade May
