Brighton Pride

LGBTIQA+ activists have launched a campaign demanding that Pride celebrations refuse to accept sponsorship from fossil fuel companies. Organised under the banner of Fossil Free Pride, the campaign has emerged out of the People & Planet Divest Pride initiative which in 2020 sought to get major Pride events in the UK to ditch their sponsorship with Barclays over the bank’s role as the largest investor in fossil fuel infrastructure in Europe.

Fossil Free Pride has launched a petition which is calling on all pride celebrations in the UK to:

  • adopt a publicly available ethical sponsorship policy
  • refuse to accept sponsorship from or partnership with fossil fuel companies
  • refuse to accept sponsorship from or partnerships with financial institutions funding fossil fuel companies

Fossil Free Pride claim that the fossil fuel industry is “co-opting the struggle for LGBTIQA+ liberation to sanitise their own image.” They also allege that “these companies profit from destroying the environment, damaging people’s health, and driving people from their homes.”

The group also state that there is “no place in Pride” for the fossil fuel industry. Its petition states,

LGBTQIA+ Pride events exist for us, to celebrate our community, history and struggle. There is no place in Pride for companies that hurt our friends and our siblings across the globe. This has always been a struggle for justice for all of us.

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Image credit: The Lilac Bonzai – Creative Commons