Surrey Pride cancelled for this year due to lack of funding

[Gasp0deTheW0nderD0g]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy8w739g8y7o

Surrey Pride has been postponed until 2027, organisers have announced.
Pride in Surrey said rising costs and a decline in pledged corporate sponsorship had made it "impossible to proceed" with the event.
The parade and festival in Guildford were due to take place on 8 August.
Organisers said in a statement posted on Facebook they were making the announcement with "great sadness".
"This year, many Pride events across the country have faced similar cancellations," they wrote.
"We sincerely appreciate your understanding during this difficult time."
It comes after Surrey County Council withdrew its official support for the 2025 event, meaning its staff and services did not officially attend.
The local authority said at the time Pride in Surrey was not "truly representative" of the whole LGBTQ+ community following "concerns" that had been raised.
Stephen Ireland, the former founder of the county event, was jailed for raping a 12-year-old boy in June 2025.
The BBC understands this was a factor in the authority's decision, although it had not actively sponsored Pride since 2021.

Given its abysmal record on safeguarding, this is good news for the people of Surrey, especially the more vulnerable ones who were so badly let down by all concerned before.

Fantastic news, thank you for this.

What a shame.

Great news

Good.

I will be very supportive of Pride if/when it goes back to the original purpose, not the revolting fetish-fest it has become.

Postponed? Not 'cancelled for the foreseeable'?

Round here, pride month has been a non-event this year. I must pop into the Library at some stage and what they are/are-not doing.

Good. Should have been shut down long ago when they realised paedophiles were not only embedded in the organisation but using it to target (and rape) vulnerable children and young people.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2kkrxdpndo

this. I used to be very proud to participate in Pride. What it has become is nothing to be proud of.

Good Pride is now actively homophobic, denying same sex attraction. How very ironic that is.

Halle bloody lujah

FAFO in action!!

The BBC has been nonstop with Pride-this and Pride-that. This got cancelled because some posters were stolen and we're scared. Oh no! We can't let hate win and we got all this free publicity so we're going ahead. That Pride is happening for the first, fifth, seventh time. It's actually faintly comical.

I hope cancelled in this case means cancelled.

It is such a small event anyway, hardly anyone goes, other than our MP as she is very TWW. Its in fact all the same people going to all the different Pride events. It would be very interesting to see who actually goes. They interviewed various attendees, who all said, never mind, see you at Brighton, see you in London etc etc. And really, who cares? Its not interesting, its not family friendly, it doesn't really have a point any more in terms of equality.

Why do we have all these month long events anyway???

SECAMB the local Ambulance service painted one of their ambulances in Pride colours. The feedback they got was not as positive as perhaps they would have hoped.

Julie Bindel's complete Pride and Predator investigation on Surrey Pride, in case anyone missed it:

Very interesting reading this news after hearing how officials responded to Julie's questioning people about this (safeguarding/Stephen Ireland) whilst she was attending the Pride event- and how she was made to leave because of her questioning.

open.spotify.com/episode/3DRV5zyBV9lo9SlkPphgUm?si=L3-7w56WQKGWLZ1Tq2kCNg

It's not called priDEMONth for nothing!

Stonewall's Rainbow Laces 2026, new merchandise launched for Pride month, and nary a "progress" rainbow in sight:

https://shop.stonewall.org.uk/collections/rainbow-laces-2026

Has Rainbow Laces campaign always been just the original rainbow, or is this a shift for Stonewall? (I don't normally keep track, but have been keeping an eye on Stonewall's website since they partnered with Diversity Role Models)

https://www.stonewall.org.uk/get-involved/support-us/rainbow-laces

Good. It’s so boring and vulgar shoving your sexual preferences down everyone’s throats.

Grow up and show some dignity and sophistication, people.

Oh, so sad. Oh well.

How boringly predictable, and indicative of how we've got into this mess where concerns about safeguarding are ignored because critical thinking has been thrown out of the window. We are talking about Surrey Pride specifically. Look at what the founder did (there's a handy link on the thread) before you start spouting off about small-mindedness and intolerance. The rape of a 12-year-old boy is not something we should ever tolerate, no matter who the perpetrator is.

You might have had a point once but have you seen what Pride has become? As a lesbian, I want no part of it, especially Surrey Pride with its paedo connections.

Well, last time I went there were men dressed in puppy fetish gear getting kids to pet them and lesbians being abused because they do t believe that men are women and therefore won’t have sex with them. That’s what it’s become and what I want no part of.

The thing is that gay men, lesbians and bi people marching to demand acceptance and equality was right and good and worthy of pride. And to be honest it's also fine and wonderful for men who like presenting as feminine and women who like presenting as masculine to be part of that even if they aren't gay/lesbian/bi and are still attracted to the opposite sex. We spent so many years being told to be ashamed of who we were that it was right and good to shake that off and march in Pride. But we marched as ordinary people, being quite ordinary and really quite open about how ordinary and unthreatening it is to simply be attracted to people of our own sex. We did not march along wearing butplugs, bondage straps, or other fetish gear like furry suits. We weren't trying to communicate the details of what we get up to behind closed doors. Those things being private is not the same as those things being shameful. A parade of fetish exhibitionism and paraphilia is very different from what Pride was originally about.

How petty , small minded and intolerant of us to be concerned about the rape of a 12 year old boy.

Oh I have plenty in my life thanks. But even if I didn’t I’d still have grave concerns about an organisation that has no regard for safeguarding.