Dundee Pride takes major step forward as board set up to deliver march

Dundee’s first official Pride event has taken a major step forward with a new board set up to help organise the parade.

The group met for the first time on Monday and now hopes to achieve charitable status in a matter of weeks.

It follows an initiative led by campaigners and local LGBT youth groups and backed by Dundee City Council, to establish whether their was a desire for a Pride event in the city and what it might look like.

More than 50 people registered as volunteers during a consultation in August and September, with almost 180 responses to an online survey – the vast majority of them saying they wanted the event to go ahead.

Stuart Duffy, of Pink Saltire, who led the consultation, said: “This has been a great example of the community stepping up and getting involved in organising something to benefit the city.

“We were so pleased with the number of volunteers who registered at this early stage and the new Dundee Pride organisation is in really good hands.

“The data from the Pride survey will be put to good use helping guide the teams organising everything from the date and location to the entertainment on the day.

“2018 is already set to be a big year for Dundee and we hope this new event will show the city is an open and vibrant place to live and work.”

The consultation found 96% of respondents in favour of a Dundee Pride event, with the majority choosing the city’s new Slessor Gardens as the most favourable location.

The board’s new co-chair Alan Cowan, 47, said he hoped the gathering would help bring communities together to share their experiences.

He said: “We want to get beyond the usual LGBT scene in Dundee and reach out to new groups and businesses.

“People in the city have been really supportive and now we want to work to build on that support.”

The Dundee group will join Pride organisers from across the UK at a conference in Blackpool this weekend.

The march is expected to echo those planned for Edinburgh, Glasgow, Fife, West Lothian, Grampian and Dumfries and Galloway next year – the most ever held in Scotland.