Manchester Pride has revealed the theme for this year’s legendary Parade, and it’s set to celebrate “the power of love”.
A week after it was announced that tickets to the popular Gay Village Party had gone live, and with the charity aiming to encourage people to show love to ourselves and the LGBTQ+ community, Manchester Pride has revealed that the theme for the 2023 Parade will be celebrating love in the 10th anniversary year of marriage equality.
Titled ‘Queerly Beloved’, the Parade will see the city’s streets become awash with colour and celebration on Saturday 26 August.
🌈MANCHESTER PRIDE PARADE🌈
Join us at the Parade on Sat 26th Aug 2023 as we march loudly and proudly through the streets of Manchester, celebrating our progress and protesting for LGBTQ+ liberation in a kaleidoscope of queer joy and colour🌟
The Parade is always one of the festival’s most highly-anticipated events every year, as people march proudly together through the streets of Manchester in front of tens of thousands of supporters cheering them along the way.
The charity says the 2023 Pride Parade theme has been chosen to mark the 10th anniversary of the Marriage (Same Sex Couples) Act being passed on 17 July 2013 – which enabled civil partners to convert their partnership to a marriage, if they wish.
It also gave individuals the option to change their legal gender without having to end their marriage.
Manchester Pride reveals theme for 2023’s Parade celebrating ‘the power of love’ / Credit: Manchester Pride
Manchester Pride CEO Mark Fletcher says the charity is “very excited” about this year’s Parade theme, explaining that: “Queerly Beloved celebrates the wins for the LGBTQ+ community but also poses the question – how far have we really come?
“We will be marching for love, and our message is clear – our love is powerful, our love is resistance, and love should be celebrated for all.”
The Manchester Pride Parade route this year is set to start on Liverpool Road, before passing by the Town Hall and through Gay Village, and finishing on Whitworth Street.
Hundreds of young LGBTQ+ people – including the charity’s own Youth Pride MCR group and their allies – lead the Parade through the city last year, but this year, it’s expected that even more will join the celebrations, which is why Manchester Pride says it is “actively encouraging” walking entries in an aim to make the Festival “even more environmentally-friendly”.
The city’s streets will become awash with colour once again this August Bank Holiday weekend / Credit: Manchester Pride
As always, Manchester Pride Festival 2023 takes place over four days in Manchester city centre on August Bank Holiday weekend (25-28 August), and is made up of several fringe events that all provide opportunities to advocate for LGBTQ+ equality, engage families and young people, and to celebrate queer arts and culture.
All events are free to attend, with the exception of the Gay Village Party – which tickets are available for now here.
£2.50 from every ticket will be donated to the Manchester Pride Community Fund, with the money going directly to LGBTQ+ causes and projects in Greater Manchester through the distribution of grants.
Fancy taking part in this year’s Pride Parade? Find out more and apply here.
Featured Image – Manchester Pride
News
Drinks prices for Manchester Oasis gigs announced – and you’ll be pleasantly surprised
Daisy Jackson
The prices of drinks at Heaton Park for the five huge Manchester Oasis shows have been released in advance.
With the Gallagher brothers reuniting on stage in their hometown for the first time this weekend (and then again next week), it’s a huge moment for our city.
Those lucky enough to snag tickets have already forked out a small fortune to witness this moment in history (still scarred from the dynamic pricing debacle).
And most of us were probably bracing to spend another small fortune on beers at the Oasis Manchester gigs.
But you might be pleasantly surprised at the drinks prices up at Heaton Park for Oasis Live ’25.
It’s now been confirmed that pints of lager and cider will be just £6.50.
Before you turn your nose up, remember that pints at our two arenas – the AO Arena and Co-op Live are now sitting around the £9 mark.
Prices for other drinks, like wine and spirits, we’ll have to wait until Friday to see.
Heaton Park will also be the home of the ‘largest beer garden’ and the longest bars in the city for the Oasis reunion.
With a major heatwave predicted for the first shows, fans are being encouraged to stay hydrated (on WATER, not beer, please).
Ticket-holders will be allowed to bring a sealed bottle of water up to 500ml in with you, but it must be collapsible plastic.
Solid plastic and metal containers will be rejected on safety grounds.
There’s a free water point on site where you can fill up your bottles again.
Oasis will perform at Heaton Park in Manchester on 11, 12, 16, 19 and 20 July.
Dates announced as resident doctors prepare to stage strikes this month
Emily Sergeant
Resident doctors in England have voted to stage strike action over pay, and the dates for the industrial action have now been confirmed.
The British Medical Association (BMA) says doctors have ‘spoken clearly’ after the results of a vote published today revealed that 90% of resident doctors have voted in favour of a potential return to industrial action.
It comes after the ballot – which ran from 27 May until 7 July – saw a turnout of 55% members, with almost 30,000 (29,741) votes cast.
26,766 of those votes endorsed the use of strike action as part of efforts to restore pay, while just under 3,000 voted against it.
The result means that resident doctors have now secured a fresh mandate to stage industrial action when they choose from now until January 2026.
BMA resident doctors committee co-chairs, Melissa Ryan and Ross Nieuwoudt, said that, while no doctor took the possibility of striking lightly, a clear majority of members felt that they had ‘no other choice’ given the ongoing failures to restore pay.
They added that Health Secretary Wes Streeting has the power to ‘make the right decision’ on pay, and urged the Government to return to negotiations ‘as soon as possible’.
It’s now been confirmed that resident doctors will stage a full walk out from 7am on Friday 25 July until 7am on Wednesday 30 July.
These upcoming strikes come after resident doctors – formerly known as junior doctors, until 2024 – in England participated in an unprecedented 11 rounds of strike action after negotiations with the previous Conservative Government over restoring pay repeatedly stalled.
“Doctors have spoken and spoken clearly – they won’t accept that they are worth a fifth less than they were in 2008,” the committee co-chairs said. “Our pay may have declined but our will to fight remains strong.
“Doctors don’t take industrial action lightly, but they know it is preferable to watching their profession wither away.
“The next move is the Government’s – will it repeat the mistakes of its predecessor? Or will it do the right thing and negotiate a path to full pay restoration and the restoration of doctors’ confidence in our profession’s future?”
Emily Sergeant -
14th March 2023 
