Brighton Pride revellers 'dancing the day away'

Brighton Pride has kicked off for its 35th anniversary, and hundreds of thousands of people are expected in the city over the weekend.

Speaking to BBC Radio Sussex before the start of the parade, Jack Goddard, from the LGBTQ+ choir Rainbow Chorus, said it was a "joyous... celebration".

"We're going to be dancing the day away," he continued. "It's going to be brilliant."

Pride has previously been criticised as having become a "massive money-making exercise" that "doesn't necessarily feel like a space for the LGBT community anymore".

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Ahead of the event, which started at 11:00 BST, Regan Burree, who works for Greater Thameslink Railways, told the BBC that Pride was important.

"Particularly coming from the railway, it's such a male-dominated environment, or perceived to be, but actually that's not the case anymore," she said.

"It's so diverse now - this is us all celebrating it here."

Standard tickets for the Pride on the Park festival range from £45 to £350, though limited discounted options are available.

"[It's lost its] radical spirit in favour of corporate interests," one woman earlier told the BBC.

"Everyone I know is boycotting Pride."

The event brings a big boost to the local economy, and organisers say it has raised more than £1.4m for LGBTQ+ causes.

Brighton Pride organiser Paul Kemp previously told the BBC the event "simply wouldn't be possible without some level of sponsorship".

The parade begins at Hove Lawns, and the route goes along King's Road, West Street, North Street, London Road and ends near Preston Park.

A ticketed Pride Street party will also take place over the weekend on Marine Parade.

The first Pride marches protested against Section 28, a controversial law introduced by Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government that banned councils and schools from promoting homosexuality.

Abigail Dombey recalled there were a few hundred people who took part in the first 1991 Pride march.

"It was exciting but nerve-racking," she said.

"We felt vulnerable and there was verbal abuse. However, it was important to be visible, to be seen and heard."

Labour MP for Hove and Portslade, Peter Kyle, said: "I love this moment when everyone gathers before it starts and getting ready for an exciting day.

"I first came to pride well over 20 years ago, so to remember myself then, when I was just standing on the side lines looking on and now being the MP from where Pride sets off from, it's a huge journey for me."

Rachel Duffy, who featured in the TV series The Traitors, is attending her first Brighton Pride and said: "That was the biggest amount of joy and sparkles, it was fabulous.

"I loved it, it was an experience I won't forget. I'm not gay but I feel so proud to be here."

In 2025, organisers said political party participation had been suspended at the LBGTQ+ celebration events in support of trans rights.

Some members of the trans community have said they feel unwelcome at Pride.

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