On Sunday (July 23) – regional charity, Northern Pride, which organises leading LGBT festival Newcastle Pride, will be hosting a candlelit vigil to mark the end of this year’s tenth annual festival, which is sponsored by business improvement district company NE1.
The candlelit vigil, which begins at 9pm at Newcastle Civic Centre, is sponsored by The Co-operative Funeral Care and will feature a reading from a member of the LGBT+ asylum community from Rainbow Home – an organisation in Newcastle helping LBGT refugees.
And anyone affected by tragedies such as the Orlando nightclub shooting or Chechnya’s gay concentration camps, is invited to attend the vigil and show their respect for those involved.
Mark Nichols, Chair of Northern Pride, said: “The Co-op candlelit vigil is the perfect place for the LGBT community to share a moment of reflection for other members of the community who are being persecuted around the world.
“We still have such a long way to go in the fight against homophobia, biphobia and transphobia and we refuse to tolerate anti LGBT violence anywhere in the world.
“The fight for equal rights continues and we hope everyone will join us in lighting a thousand candles to not only remember – but celebrate – all those who have dedicated their lives to fighting for LGBT rights.”
This year’s sponsors, The Co-operative Funeral Care, are delighted to be backing the important event, as the company’s Standards Manager, Adam Hampton, said:
“Caring for the community is at the heart of everything we do at Co-op Funeralcare, which is why we are proud to support the Candlelit Vigil at this year’s tenth Newcastle Pride festival.”
The popular festival, which attracted more than 73,000 visitors and contributed more than £10.4m to the economy in 2016, is returning with its largest ever line up on the 21 to 23 July weekend at Newcastle Town Moor.
Full listings for all of this year’s satellite events and the official Newcastle Pride weekend can be found by visiting www.northern-pride.com or by searching northernprideuk on Facebook and Twitter.
The festival itself is free to attend, however a number of Gold Circle and VIP tickets are available for those who want to guarantee prime viewing spots for the performances on July 22 and 23.
Photo (top) by Danni Wright
