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Date: 22 Jul 2022
Category: Things to do
Belfast’s biggest ever Pride Festival will be launched today in Belfast City Hall, followed by the Belfast Pride Awards.
Ahead of opening the Belfast Pride Festival 2022, Belfast Lord Mayor Councillor Tina Black commented: “It’s a great honour for me to launch the biggest ever Belfast Pride Festival to date – and the first to take place in person since the Covid 19 lockdown.
“With over 150 events including debates and discussion, theatre, music, drama, health and wellbeing events and community workshops – Belfast Pride promises to be a really fun, inspirational and educational 10 days, culminating on Pride Day, Saturday July 30, when tens of thousands of people are expected to join in the theme of this year’s Belfast Pride Festival: ‘Community - United in Diversity.’
“The Belfast Pride festival is a major celebratory event our city’s calendar, filling Belfast with colour, joy and optimism. It also attracts significant business to our hotels, shops, restaurants and venues, in the same way major Pride festivals do right across Europe. But most importantly, it’s a celebration of diversity, inclusion, equality and love.”
The Belfast Pride parade will be followed by Party in the Square; six hours of music and fun for all the family in Custom House Square, followed by night-time celebrations at a range of venues across Belfast city centre and beyond.
The Belfast Pride Awards, decided by public vote, recognise the achievements of LGBTQ+ community groups, businesses, unions and public bodies who work with the community and support Belfast Pride.
Cara McCann, Co-Chair of Belfast Pride commented: “The theme of Belfast Pride 2022 ‘Community-United in Diversity’ is something that will resonate with us all, especially after the challenging couple of years we have all lived through. Our community is stronger when we are together. This year we are excited to be back on the streets to celebrate and highlight our wonderful community.”
John O Doherty, Co-Chair of Belfast Pride commented: “Belfast Pride provides us with an important opportunity to reflect on how far we have come and how much more we need to achieve. This year’s Belfast Pride festival has more events than ever before and the Belfast Pride Parade promises to be the largest yet. It is clear that our community and our allies have sorely missed this important opportunity to stand united together and we cannot wait to welcome them back to our city and back to our streets.”
The full Belfast Pride festival guide can be viewed here: https://issuu.com/belfastpride/docs/bp_2022_guide