Newcastle Pride Event 2008

Members of Newcastle's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans (LGBT) community met on the 12th May at Northumbria Student Union to discuss the future of a Pride event for the city. Research commissioned by the Pride Steering Group, Supported by Newcastle City Council's LGB Community Development Worker, revealed that there was overwhelmingly positive support for a Pride event and this enthusiasm resulted in many people volunteering to take the plans further.

Pride on Tyne successfully ran Pride activities for many years, which reflected the diverse community, however, in late 2005 it was decided to wind down the organization. While this was a sad decision for many, it was felt that a brief sabbatical would allow the time to develop a brand new Pride that would be bigger and better than ever before.

The Council's dedicated LGB Community Development Officer stepped in to support a steering group, who would go on to commission research into what the community wanted from Pride. This research has now been completed and clearly demonstrated local people's overwhelming enthusiasm for a celebration of LGBT life in the region.

A group of volunteers have been meeting since the feedback event and are busy working to establish a Pride event in the north east. The group are known as Northern Pride and are moving towards adopting a constitution and electing a committee. Over the coming weeks they will be making plans for an event in 2008 that will celebrate the diversity of our community and will sure to be a fun day out for all.

The plans will be launched at a general meeting in the Autumn.