By Venice Hancock, News Sub-Editor.
Paul Kemp, the managing director of Brighton and Hove Pride 2019, recently announced that Brighton Pride 2019 had managed to raise an incredible total of £217,432.50 for local charitable causes.
He has stated that the money “will be distributed to local charity and community groups and projects through the Brighton Rainbow Fund, the Pride Social Impact Fund and Pride Cultural Development Fund”, and that Pride is on its way of reaching its goal of raising £1 million by 2020, just in time for the 30th anniversary of Brighton and Hove Pride.
Aside from these accomplishments, there is no neglecting the economic impact that Brighton Pride has on the city. Brighton’s reputation for being the LGBTQ+ capital of the United Kingdom as well as its world famous Pride parade are incredibly significant to the seaside city’s economy. Every year, an estimated £20.5 million is generated into the Brighton and Hove’s economy over Pride weekend from tourism alone. On top of that, the local businesses located in the Pride Village Party helped amass £7,520 for the Pride Social Impact Fund, bucket collections carried out during the parade represented £768 worth of donations and Legends, Brighton’s famous gay friendly hotel, was the largest supporter of LGBT businesses, contributing £5500.
Giving back to the community is clearly a priority for Brighton Pride. This year, we saw the launch of City Angels project, a scheme designed to engage with different businesses across the city to help support the community projects and fundraisers that they hold throughout the year. So far, the new scheme has accumulated 26 participating businesses and bought in over £10,000.
Overall, this is an incredible feat that Pride has managed to achieve. At the heart of Pride celebrations this year, was the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall riots of 1969, the event that is widely considered to have marked the launch of the gay rights movement. It is in that spirit that Brighton Pride has found a way of honouring the memory of Stonewall by giving back to its community. In doing so, it continues to carry out the message of inclusion, tolerance and equality that was championed all those years ago by protesters outside a bar in the Greenwich Village area of New York City.
