PRIDE CYMRU PREPARES TO CELEBRATE 25 YEARS OF PRIDE IN WALES

PRIDE CYMRU, Wales’ largest Pride festival and grassroots LGBTQ+ charity has announced its plans for the 2024 Pride event, marking 25 years since its predecessor event Cardiff Mardi Gras first took place in 1999. Taking place once again during Pride month on 22 & 23 June, the mile long parade and two day festival will once again take over Cardiff city centre with celebration and campaigning for greater equality front and centre.

 

New for this year, Pride Cymru will host a candlelit vigil on Friday 21 June evening at 19:30-21:30 to remember all those lost from the community to violence against LGBTQ+ people, the HIV epidemic and all victims of prejudice, in Wales and around the world. The event will be free to attend and not require a ticket.

 

Speakers will highlight global injustices taking place right now: such as LGBTQ+ refugees being housed in unsuitable accommodation, repression from the vicious Putin regime in Russia and the ongoing culture war aiming to erase trans people from our public space. There will also be poetry and spoken word art to pay tribute to those that have come before us and to call for immediate action on tackling injustice.

 

The event starts with a mile long parade, setting off from Castle Street at 11am and work its way through the busiest parts of the city centre. Dedicated family and youth areas provide a great day out of activity and entertainment for the entire family in the Castle Mews.

 

The markets area provides information from a wide range of organisations and great items from LGBTQ+ small businesses to buy.

 

Headlining the Principality Building Society Main Stage on Saturday: Europe’s biggest party act Vengaboys, House Gospel Choir, Ultrabeat and Tom Aspaul. On Saturday, doors will open at 12noon and close at 2230.

On Sunday, headliners include: Jake Shears, Heather Small, DAGNY, Bronwen Lewis, RuPaul’s Drag Race UK winner Danny Beard and local legend Victoria Scone. On Sunday, doors open at 1100 (with the first hour being a ‘quiet hour’) and close at 2100.

 

The widely popular S4C Community Stage returns with more Welsh language acts than ever before, reflecting Wales’ bilingual diversity.

 

Chair of Pride Cymru, Gian Molinu said:

“Looking back over 25 years, the progress that has been made in advancing LGBTQ+ equality is vast. When this event first started, there was no equal marriage, no adoption rights and the cruel Section 28 was still in force.

“Pride is an opportunity to come together for us to celebrate the achievements of activists but also to fight for further action where there is still progress to make. In a general election year, it is a great opportunity to show that the vast majority of Wales believes in a world where everyone can be themselves and call for all the political parties to do right by LGBTQ+ people. In the last few years, there has been a worrying creeping trend towards using LGBTQ+ lives to score political points and divide communities.

“Too many people don’t realise that Pride is a volunteer-led organisation with members of the community right across Wales working on putting together Wales’ biggest celebration of love, tolerance and inclusion. I am so proud of the year-round work they do to make this event happen. While we have grown in scale over the last 25 years, the foundations of how and why we do this remains a constant”.

“I also want to sincerely thank all of our sponsors and operational partners for their continued hard work and dedication”.

 

Pride Cymru has been an annual and ever growing event since the first Cardiff Mardi Gras, held back in 1999. Over 50,000 people interacted with Pride Cymru in 2023, generating an estimated £1.2million in economic activity in Cardiff over the course of the weekend.

Pride Cymru is a volunteer-led charity that works to promote the elimination of discrimination be it on the grounds of sexual orientation, gender, race, religion or ability. We are committed  to campaigning for equality and acceptance of diversity within our communities. We recognise and celebrate the contributions made by LGBTQ+ people in society and we continue our work to create opportunities for LGBTQ+ people around Wales to connect and support each other. Alongside the famous annual event, Pride Cymru runs a number of projects aimed at promoting community cohesion and campaigning for a more equal society.

Tickets are now available via the Pride Cymru website.