Brighton & Hove Pride is celebrating a milestone 50th Anniversary of the first Pride march in the city with their Pride at 50 – Dare To Be Different campaign taking place on lampposts across the city and an exhibition at Brighton’s Jubilee Library.
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.
A series of over 50 lampposts can be seen on Queen’s Road and Old Steine, leading partially on the Pride Parade route towards Preston Park. The lampposts feature portraits of some of the incredible trailblazers who began this movement in our city and allowed us to be here celebrating, 50 years on.
From Monday, July 31, a photo exhibition will be taking place at Jubilee Library until Sunday, August 27, featuring archival photographs from the first Pride March in the city, and nine new photos of Sussex Gay Liberation Front veterans by award-winning photographer, Chris Jepson.
Brighton & Hove Pride say: “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 LGBTQ+ trailblazers who have made a stand and Dared To Be Different.
“Whilst we commemorate 50 years of progress and the trailblazers who came before us, we also find ourselves as a community in a challenging period with our rights and progress under threat, such as Uganda’s widely condemned new anti-LGBTQ law that includes the death penalty.
“As a community, now more than ever we need to stand together with our friends and allies around the world to call out the hatred and injustices particularly those being directed to our trans siblings. #TransPeopleAreLoved.”
More information about the Pride at 50 – Dare To Be Different campaign can be found HERE
