Summertime is Pride time. What started as fringe events have become a cultural and political statement across many communities — with 13% of people globally now attending annual Pride events.
This year will be no different, with rainbow colours on display up and down the country during July and August. There will be hundreds of amazing events lined up all over the UK. But if you’re looking to participate in one of the country’s fiercest and most fabulous Pride events, you should head to Manchester.
Manchester Pride was voted the UK’s best festival in 2022. But this year’s celebration looks like it’ll be even bigger and better. Trust us: you won’t want to miss it.
To help you better understand what Manchester Pride is like, we’ve created this quick guide. We’ll cover what Manchester Pride is, when it is, this year’s Pride theme, and the key performers in 2023’s fantastic line-up. We’ll also cover some outstanding events that you can attend or use as inspiration for creating your own!
Everything you need to know about Manchester Pride 2023
Before we break down this year’s Manchester Pride line-up and what event creators are doing to celebrate, it’s worth taking a step back and talking about Manchester Pride’s history and why it’s such an important event to a variety of communities in the local area.
What is Manchester Pride?
One reason Manchester Pride is one of the UK’s best Pride events is that Manchester has played a huge role in the UK’s queer liberation movement.
Manchester’s North West Homosexual Law Reform Committee was a key player in the national Campaign for Homosexual Equality in the 1960s, and the city has been hosting fundraising and awareness events for the LGBTQ+ community since the 1980s.
In 1985, the city held the first annual Manchester Gay Pub and Club Olympics — with Manchester City Council even getting behind the celebrations and awarding a grant to put a banner on Oxford Street.
Fast-forward almost 40 years, and Manchester Pride has grown a lot. Last year, tens of thousands crowded the city centre to join in the celebrations. But the event’s purpose hasn’t changed.
Manchester Pride is all about challenging discrimination and celebrating a shared vision for a world where LGBTQ+ people are free to live and love without prejudice — and last year’s festival raised more than £120,000 to support LGBTQ+ charities all over Greater Manchester.
Want to learn more about amazing community-building events around strong existing communities? Check out this guide.
When is Manchester Pride 2023?
Manchester Pride always takes place over the August Bank Holiday weekend. That means the celebrations will start on Friday 25 August and go on until Monday 28 August.
Most of the events happening over the Bank Holiday weekend are free, including:
- Superbia Weekend
- Youth Pride MCR
- Family Pride MCR
- The Parade
- The Human Rights Forum
But the Gay Village Party (which is running Friday to Monday) is ticketed. We’ll cover the stellar line-up for that event in just a minute.
It’s also important to remember that the party extends well beyond the confines of the official Manchester Pride event. Organisations, venues, and event creators all over the city are planning supporting events in Manchester to coincide with the celebrations.
For example, Trans Pride Manchester is organising the Trans Pride Manchester Protest 2023 starting at the Proud Trust.
Explore what’s happening for Pride on the Eventbrite community.
What is the theme of Manchester Pride 2023?
Every year, Manchester Pride has a theme. This year’s parade theme is Queerly Beloved.
Why have the event organisers gone for this theme? It’s a celebration of the 10th anniversary of the passing of The Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act in England and Wales — legalising same-sex marriage. A similar law was passed in Scotland in 2014, while Northern Ireland followed suit in 2020.
According to the event organisers, the parade theme is “completely open to your interpretation, as long as it leads with love.”
That could mean dressing up as Cupid, sporting a wedding dress or tuxedo, decking yourself in roses and love hearts, or whatever love means to you.
Who is playing at Manchester Pride 2023?
The 2023 Manchester Pride line-up is already shaping up to be its best ever. Guests and performers will include:
- Melanie C
- Nadine Coyle
- Charity Shop Sue
- Bimini (Drag Race UK)
- Black Pride MCR
But that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Guests can also expect to see Jake Shears, former lead singer of Scissor Sisters, and Brazilian Pabllo Vittar, the most followed drag queen in the world.
Want to see what other events Manchester Pride is hosting in August (and across the rest of the year)? Check out their events page on Eventbrite.
Manchester Pride events you won’t want to miss in 2023
Unlike some Pride events, Manchester Pride isn’t just one afternoon of fun. It’s a range of interlinked events happening all over the city at the end of August — and there are quite a few events that you’ll want to mark on your calendar.
To make sure you’re ready for Manchester Pride and hit all the best and boldest events, we’ll walk you through a few of our favourites.
Manchester Pride Parade
The Manchester Pride Parade is Manchester’s biggest annual parade. This year, it’ll be taking place on Saturday 26 August. It starts at 12pm at the junction of Liverpool Road and Deansgate, and it goes all the way to Fairfield Street.
Groups and individuals from all over Manchester and beyond are invited to embrace the Queerly Beloved theme. If you want to join in the parade but don’t want to go it alone, there’s a range of different groups and event creators linking up on Eventbrite to meet beforehand and march together in the parade.
For example, the Rainbow Devils (the officially recognised lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender supporters club of Manchester United) are encouraging allies to secure their place now to get ready for the march.
The Candlelit Vigil
This is one of Manchester Pride’s more subdued and reflective events. The Candlelit Vigil is an introspective event that closes the four days of the Manchester Pride festival each year, and it’s designed to remember those lost to HIV over the decades.
The Candlelight Vigil takes place at Sackville Gardens — home to the Alan Turing Memorial, the National Transgender Memorial, and the Beacon of Hope. It offers event attendees a moment to think about how far the LGBTQ+ community has come and how much progress still needs to be made to create equality and drown out hate.
Superbia
Superbia Weekend is the UK’s ultimate celebration of queer talent in music, dance, and filmmaking.
The highlight is, without doubt, the Superbia Cinema Pride Special, which always showcases unique voices, actors, and directors all over the cinemascape.
That being said, it’s also important to note that Superbia hosts several amazing year-round events with the same goals and themes in mind. For example, Manchester Pride is hosting a Superbia Cinema: Neurodiversity Captured on Film event in June.
At Pride, Superbia also features a range of events like music workshops for kids, make-up masterclasses, mixers, and art exhibitions.
The Gay Village Party
The Gay Village Party is Manchester Pride’s only ticketed event, but it’s worth the price.
Based on Canal Street, Manchester’s Gay Village is a British cultural institution, so it’s the perfect home for the city’s biggest Pride celebration.
The Gay Village Party is all about creating a diverse, inclusive, and queer-led celebration of LGBTQ+ love and life. Organisers are saying this year’s line-up consists of:
- 96% queer performers
- 54% female performers
- 51% people of colour
- Over 42% trans and non-binary performers
If you head to this year’s Gay Village Party, you’ll be able to see stars like Natasha Bedingfield, Danny Beard, Gok Wan, and Jodie Harsh for a start. But there’s loads more, and a portion of every ticket sold goes to the Manchester Pride Community Fund.
Queerly Beloved: March with Hidayah at Manchester Pride 2023!
If you’re looking to get involved in Manchester Pride and want to explore different viewpoints or communities, a great place to start will be the Queerly Beloved: March with Hidayah at Manchester Pride 2023! event being planned by Eventbrite creator Hidayah LGBTQI+.
This event is designed to enable LGBTQ Muslims and their allies a safe space and opportunity to meet new people, celebrate, and show their pride. Participants will be invited to join Hidayah LGBTQI+ by marching in the parade if they feel comfortable doing so, and they can then enjoy dinner together afterward.
LGBT+ Manchester Walking Tour
Manchester Pride isn’t just about looking to the future. A big part of it is celebrating and learning from the past — which is why you may want to check out event creator Joshua Martin Events and their upcoming LGBT+ Manchester Walking Tour.
The tour immerses walkers in Manchester’s story, showing them key sites around Manchester and its iconic Gay Village that helped forge the city’s amazing LGBTQ+ community and secure equality for people all over Britain.
The tour is led by Mancunian LGBT History master’s degree graduates — so they definitely know what they’re talking about.
Create your own pride event with Eventbrite
It’s important to note this is just the tip of the iceberg. Manchester is where it’s all happening this August Bank Holiday weekend, and you can’t miss out! There are loads of amazing events unfolding as part of Pride, and you could even create your own.
You can use Eventbrite to plan your own event — once you have your event idea locked in, start by creating an event page. Once your event is on our platform, it’ll be searchable for millions of potential attendees. It really is that simple.
Join Eventbrite now to draw inspiration from our community and use our range of tools to plan, promote, and manage your own Pride event.
