Football Pride - an event from Football v Homophobia that lifts up LGBTQ+ voices across the game - is returning at Manchester Pride in August 2023.
Bringing together our fabulous LGBTQ+ communities within the world’s most popular sport, Football Pride offers opportunities to party, participate and protest.
The main event is a one-day symposium at Manchester Metropolitan University Business School on Friday 25 August (10am to 4pm), bookended by get-togethers and networking opportunities on the Thursday and Friday nights.
There is also the opportunity to be part of a group marching in the Parade on Saturday 26 August, under a Football Pride banner.
For the Friday symposium, you can select to attend the morning session (10am to 12.30pm) or the afternoon session (1.30pm to 4pm), or you can book in for the whole day at a reduced rate.
The sessions will feature the following agenda items…
10am to 12.30pm
Women’s World Cup: An LGBTQ+ Look-back
Outside the Box – Gamechangers in men’s football
In conversation: Gender-diverse players and human rights
Monster TRUK! How the trans-inclusive club went global
1.30pm to 4pm
A special screening of a new short film about queer football culture, with cast and crew Q&A
A decade of LGBTQ+ fan groups – but what’s next?
‘Manchester is magic’: The queer joy in its inclusive football clubs
Line-up*
Bonnyrigg Rose FC striker Zander Murray, whose visibility in men’s professional football has been an inspiration to thousands
Inspirational centre-back and bi role model Jahmal Howlett-Mundle
Social media influencers and LGBTQ+ football personalities Mikey Connor (BBC’s Kissed A Boy) and Jake Williamson
Players from TRUK United FC, including Natalie Washington, Parker Dunn and Arthur Webber
World-leading human rights expert Dr Chamindra Weerawardhana
Referees and match officials including Stacey Pearson, Lloyd Wilson and Ryan Atkin
Fan leaders from LGBTQ+ supporter groups
More members of the LGBTQ+ Professionals in Football Collective, including 2022 FvH Hero Award winner Hayley Wood-Thompson
* line-up subject to change
The event comes three years after the first Football Pride, an online festival that united an international audience during the pandemic-affected summer of 2020.
Since then, the explosion of the women’s pro game and the proliferation of teams for women and non-binary people has brought much greater LGBTQ+ visibility to football.
Meanwhile, representation is on the rise in the men’s game, with more stories shared, and more solidarity being shown – although significant challenges remain, such as we have seen in recent times on social media and at the FIFA World Cup.
Football Pride offers a space and a state of mind to counter that negativity - to ‘unpark’ the bus and let individual flair flourish. The event has been welcomed with enthusiasm by the organisers of Manchester Pride.
The Friday daytime schedule at Man Met Uni features a line-up of speakers, screenings and activities that promises to be bold and beautiful, queer and quirky, sporty and spicy – and always with an eye for goal.
Professional players, coaches and match officials will rub shoulders with fans, with several famous faces and impactful changemakers set to make appearances.
Members of the LGBTQ+ Professionals in Football Collective will be among those taking part, plus friends from Sports Media LGBT+, fan groups affiliated to Pride in Football and others from the wider Football v Homophobia campaign family.
The Football Pride 2023 fun will begin on the evening of Thursday 24 August in Manchester city centre. The symposium at Man Met Uni Business School on Friday 25 August (10am to 4pm) will be followed by an evening party at a bar in Deansgate (from 7.30pm). A Football Pride group will walk in the Manchester Pride parade on Saturday 26 August (from 12pm).
Interested in sponsorship and partnership opportunities for Football Pride? Find out more information here.
Maybe you’re just keen to get involved with the event? Please email jon@footballvhomophobia.com to make an enquiry.
You can follow Football Pride on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.