Northern Ireland

LGBT councillors raise concerns on Belfast Pride over EuroPride bid

The Belfast Pride parade last year. Picture by Arthur Allison/Pacemaker
The Belfast Pride parade last year. Picture by Arthur Allison/Pacemaker The Belfast Pride parade last year. Picture by Arthur Allison/Pacemaker

LGBT councillors have raised concerns over communication issues with Belfast Pride in its bid to host EuroPride in 2023.

Belfast has been shortlisted alongside Malta and Rotterdam in the Netherlands for the chance to stage the annual event, the biggest LGBT festival in Europe.

A formal bid was submitted this month and a presentation will be made in October before a final vote.

Last year Belfast City Council agreed to work with Belfast Pride to support its bid.

But at a committee meeting on Wednesday, councillors expressed concern over "limited engagement" from Belfast Pride.

Green Party deputy leader Mal O'Hara said the bid "could have been stronger with more involvement from council and other key partners", adding: "I think that's quite disappointing."

Party colleague Anthony Flynn, who said contact with Belfast Pride "has been limited up until relatively recently", questioned the formal status of the organisation.

The SDLP's Séamas de Faoite said EuroPride was a "huge potential opportunity for the city".

However, he said clarity was needed on matters including "around the legal status of Belfast Pride as an organisation".

"I think this is very important, for me personally very important, because I want to hold the organisations that represent my identity and my community to the same standards that I would expect to hold to any other organisation that represents any other identity or community applying to this council for support or funding," he said.

Sinn Féin's Conor Maskey, the party's spokesperson for LGBT issues on the council, suggested the Covid-19 pandemic may have led to some issues.

"Let's all be very fair to everybody. Covid had put the brakes on a lot of things for people so it's kind of difficult to sustain any type of impetus, but let's see today as the first day in really putting that impetus in," he said.

Councillors agreed on Mr O'Hara's proposal to invite Belfast Pride to a meeting to discuss these matters.

Belfast Pride, which hosts the city's annual Pride parade, describes itself as an independent charity.

It is not on the formal register, but it is on the HMRC's 'deemed list' of charities.

According to the Charity Commission, it was called forward to apply for registration in 2014 but failed to do so.

Last year it submitted a fresh expression of intent, but has yet to be called forward again.

Belfast Pride said its EuroPride bid is backed by a range of groups, and aims to "promote Belfast as a beacon for change from conflict to peace".

Seán Ó Néill, chair of Belfast Pride, said they wrote to councillors on Wednesday with detailed information on their bid and have offered to discuss it further.

He said Visit Belfast was the main work partner for the formal bid, and that not all letters of recommendation made it into the bid by the deadline.

"We're all on the same side and we want the best for the LGBT+ community in Belfast and for the city," he added.