Leaders from European Pride organisations will be arriving in England this weekend for a four day meeting in Cheltenham. Board members of the European Pride Organisers Association – which has over 120 member Pride organisations in over 40 countries – were invited by Pride in Gloucestershire and Cheltenham Mayor Steve Harvey.
They will be arriving in Cheltenham on Friday and stay until Monday. Aside from their own meeting, they will take tea with the Mayor, attend Pride in Gloucestershire’s Eurovision party on Saturday, and attend Pride in the Park in Cheltenham on Sunday.
The Association’s representatives will be arriving from Riga (Latvia), Oslo (Norway), Hamburg (Germany), Thessaloniki (Greece), Sofia (Bulgaria), Mannheim (Germany), and Copenhagen (Denmark).
Their visit comes just over a year ahead of Pride in Gloucestershire bidding to host EuroPride in 2026. EuroPride is Europe’s most significant LGBTQ+ event and the status is awarded to a different city each year. This year marks 30 years since London hosted the first EuroPride.
President of the European Pride Organisers Association, Kristine Garina, said: “We were delighted to receive the invitation from Pride in Gloucestershire, and to visit in this historic year for Pride in the UK and in Europe. It’s always important to remind people that Pride is no longer an event just for big cities, and so we are excited to visit Pride in Cheltenham, and to see how their EuroPride bid will develop.”
Chair of Pride in Gloucestershire, JayJay Potter-Peachey, said: “We are so excited to be welcoming the EPOA board to Gloucestershire. Pride in rural communities are vital for both visibility and in some cases a lifeline for those who feel they are cut off from the larger LGBTI+ communities. With all that is going on with our political situation in the UK around conversion therapy, the Gender Recognition Act and voter ID, it is important to have a strong voice in the UK and having that voice from the EPOA board helps amplify ours here in Gloucestershire. We are so very excited to discuss our progress on our bid to bring EuroPride here to Gloucestershire, which would be the first time the UK has hosted since London in 2012.”
How we reported EuroPride 2021.
