Laura Scaife
On Saturday 30th July 2022 Nottingham celebrated its pride festival. The theme of the event this year was ‘We See You’ with live performances, market stalls and a march through Nottingham city centre. Impact’s Campus News Editor Laura Scaife reports.
This year was the city’s first full Pride event since the pandemic. Last year’s scaled back celebrations saw 9,000 people take part, while this year 15,000 people attended the march alone. Nottingham’s Pride Chair, Leigh Ellis, was delighted with the turnout stating, “the atmosphere was joyful and so many people have told us what a great time they had.”
Leigh Ellis “wanted to shine a light on all marginalised groups, including trans and non-binary, young and older LGBTQ+ people and people living with HIV and Aids.”
A vibrant, colourful, joyful celebration
Nottinghamshire’s 2022 Pride Festival began with a colourful march through the city led by Nottinghamshire’s Fire and Rescue Service. The organisers worked closely with Nottingham City Council to organise the march, which began in Lister Street and ended in Broad Street. Participants could also visit more than 50 market stalls which were hosted by organisations in support of the community. These stalls offered support to participants as well as aiming to raise awareness.
We really enjoyed seeing everyone at @NottsPride on Saturday. ????
— Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service (@nottsfire) August 3, 2022
Over 30 members of staff were proud to march, with the fire engine leading the parade. ? pic.twitter.com/PzktfDOlnH
As well as the march and the stalls, there was also a Pride Stage where you could watch performances including a David Bowie tribute band, Miss Bowie and the New Killer Stars, and Britney Spears tribute act, Michaela Weeks. As well as singers Tom Aspaul, Jamie Fuxx, Rob Green and Bexx and comedy cabaret favourites Scream Queenz. YouTube comedy star Charity Shop Sue also performed a DJ set.
The finale ….. performed by your hosts of main stage ….. we loved every minute at @NottsPride pic.twitter.com/L4xBBmbdJz
— Selma Clitz (@selmaclitz) August 5, 2022
Local Nottingham MP for the East, Nadia Whittome, also spoke on the Pride Stage. She discussed the importance of solidarity for all members of the LGBTQ+ community and fiercely criticised the government for ignoring issues including climate change and instead focusing on encouraging transphobia: “Because while they’re discussing what’s in people’s knickers on national TV, trans people are dying waiting years to even get a first appointment for affirmative health care.”
Overall Nottingham’s Pride Event was a vibrant, colourful, joyful celebration of individual differences.
If you would like to find out more about Nottingham Pride please visit https://www.nottinghamshirepride.co.uk/.
You can also find information on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Laura Scaife
Featured image courtesy of Yannis Papanastasopoulos via Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
In article image 1 courtesy of @nottsfire via Twitter.com. No changes were made to this image.
In article image 2 courtesy of @selmaclitz via Twitter.com. No changes were made to this image.
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