Pride at Scouts NI

Whatever your sexual orientation or gender identity, Pride’s a great opportunity to celebrate diversity and promote inclusion in Scouts.

Attending Pride is a way of demonstrating our commitment to equality, building a more inclusive society, and welcoming LGBTQI+ members. Members have said, ‘It opens doors, inspires young people and potential leaders to be confident in who they are, regardless of sexual orientation, and informs them that they’re accepted’ and that it’s important ‘…to demonstrate to young people that it doesn’t matter who you are, we value you as a Scout’.

It’s also great fun, provides opportunities to meet other volunteers, and can be a powerful experience. One participant said something that had a big impact on them was, ‘…being able, as a young LGBT+ person, to be surrounded by similar people and it not mattering at all who was gay and who wasn’t.’

For further information, please visit our Pride page.

A Pride event is usually run in a city or town by a charity committee, who organise either a parade or a community area, or a combination of both. A parade’s usually through the city or town centre; similar to a parade at a carnival. It typically features local companies, charities and other organisations who wish to celebrate diversity and/or show their commitment to equality.
Each Pride event has a different feel and focus. Some are more family-focused, like Birmingham, which usually has a community area and funfair, while some have more of a party atmosphere, like Brighton in the mainland UK.  In Northern Ireland, Belfast Pride is one of the biggest festivals in the city and ranks in the top 10 national.

There are loads of opportunities to attend a Pride event with Scouts: we’re usually represented at different events across the UK.

Scouts NI coordinates attendance at Pride in Belfast. When registration opens this will be communicated to you by Scouts NI.

Across the UK there are a number of various Pride events that you can attend as Scouts.

If you want to find out more about attending a Pride event with other Scouts, you can click here.

If you have a question about Scouts NI at Pride or LGBT+, you can contact the NI Pride Coordinator, Justin Gawn by emailing pride@scoutsni.org or alternatively contact the NI Commissioner (Inclusion).