PRIDE AT 50: DARE TO BE DIFFERENT

This year Brighton & Hove Pride celebrates the milestone 50th Anniversary of the first Pride march in the city with their Pride at 50 –Dare To Be Different campaign.

Campaigning has always been at the forefront of Pride, and we couldn’t have achieved the advances in both civil society and legal terms without the thousands of LGBT+ trailblazers who have made a stand.

Organised by the Sussex Gay Liberation Front (SGLF), the first ‘Brighton Gay Pride March’ took place in July 1973, and was composed of students and staff at the University of Sussex, along with LGBTQ+ people in the area.

Now, Brighton & Hove Pride is the UK’s biggest Pride celebration. Operated by a not-for-profit community interest company, it has raised over £1,236,000 for the Brighton Rainbow Fund, the Pride Social Impact Fund, Pride Cultural Development Fund and new Pride Solidarity Fund. The Brighton Rainbow Fund has a remit to receive donations and to use them to give grants to LGBT and HIV groups and organisations across Brighton & Hove. The Pride Social Impact Fund provides grants to a range of local groups and good causes.

Whilst commemorate 50 years of progress and the trailblazers who came before, the LGBTQ community still finds themselves in a challenging period with rights and progress under threat.

The events in Uganda, where a widely condemned new anti-LGBTQ law has been introduced which includes the death penalty, and a rise in hate-crimes in this country demonstrates that people need to stand together with friends and allies to call out hatred and injustices.

The Pride at 50 campaign remembers and uplifts key members at the forefront of the Pride movement, with a widespread campaign featuring on lamppost banners across the city, an exhibition at the Jubilee Library and an online campaign to celebrate some of the most iconic trailblazers.

The exhibition, taking place at Brighton’s Jubilee Library will feature portraits of veterans of the 1973 march, as well as vintage photographs from that march.

More information about the Pride at 50 – Dare To Be Different campaign can be found at: www.brighton-pride.org/pride-at-50

THE WHO HITS BACK! COMES TO HOVE CRICKET GROUND

Legendary rock band The Who are coming to Brighton on Fri 23 July as part of their The Who Hits Back! Tour across the UK. They will perform at The 1st Central County Ground - Hove cricket ground - with a full orchestra. Music from the band’s near sixty years of songs will be celebrated live by Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend of The Who. The orchestra will be led by conductor Keith Levenson, lead violinist Katie Jacoby and lead cellist Audrey Snyder.

Popular songs such as Pinball Wizard and My Generation are bound to make the set list. The Who released their newest album WHO in 2019 though they also have a series of live show albums. To coincide with the Hits Back tour, they released ‘The Who With Orchestra: Live at Wembley’ where listeners can get a hint of the performance they may bring to Hove.

The tour will also travel to Edinburgh, London’s The o2 Stadium, Bristol and The Eden Project in Cornwall this July. Last minute tickets are still available to purchase at www.thewho.com/tour