Ellast’s Pride parade returns to the city on Saturday, with organizers promising the biggest the city has ever seen.
The usually annual event, which was canceled during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, is back on the streets for the first time in three years.
Last time it was held in 2019, 135 groups signed up to participate in the parade.
This year, organizers had to close the application window early after 200 group registrations were received.
The theme of this year’s Pride event is “Community United in Diversity” and a group of asylum seekers and refugees Belfast their house has been invited to lead the afternoon march through the city center.
Notable additions to this year’s parade lineup include: Ulster Rugby and Ulster GAA.
Belfast Pride Festival Co-Chairman John O’Doherty said: “We are so excited to be back on the streets of Belfast. This is going to be the biggest Belfast Pride parade Belfast has ever seen, we have more groups marching than ever before.
“We are so excited to be joined by Ulster Rugby and Ulster GAA for the first time.
“We are also very excited to share the experiences of asylum seekers and refugees in Northern Ireland and to let them lead our parade.”
Mr O’Doherty said there were 60,000 people in the city’s streets in 2019 – a figure with parade participants and crowd-watching.
He said they expected “considerably more” for Saturday’s return.
“My first Pride in Belfast was twenty years ago,” he said.
“I was 18 and I’m 38 now and a lot has changed since then.
“Just the festival, I remember we had our afterparty at Writers’ Square, where there were no stages, there were no big performances. It was a very different festival then.
“When I look at Pride and even Belfast compared to what it was then you have so much more visibility of LGBTQI+ people, so much more visibility and acceptance of our community on a larger scale, and just the sheer number of community associations, employers, legal agencies and others who want to be a part of this festival and support our community.
“And it’s such a visual representation of how far LGBTQI+ people have come.
“We still have a lot to do. There are many inequalities that need to be addressed: trans health, banning conversion therapy, RSE (relationships and sex education), and protection in schools.
“All these things have yet to be addressed. However, we also need to take the time to recognize how far we have come and how much we have achieved.”