The upcoming Winter Olympics in Sochi are dogged by controversy due to the Russian government’s growing biphobia, homophobia and transphobia. LGBT equalities campaigners have organised events around the world to raise awareness of the situation for bi, gay and trans people in Russia, to coincide with the games.
In the UK the main locus of events will be in Manchester. Pride House Manchester was set up in response to a call by Pride House International for LGBT communities around the world to host remote Pride Houses in solidarity with Russia’s LGBT community. “Pride Houses” have become a feature of Olympics in recent years as a space for LGBT competitors.
One of the organising team for Pride House Manchester told BiMedia: “The Manchester ‘house’ does not represent the entire UK, although we would like to think of stance on these issues does, and indeed other cities across the nation are able to set their own houses up and may well do. Any city in the UK could set one of these up.”
Pride House Manchester is running a sixteen day festival which commences this Friday, February 7th, with a procession in the city’s Gay Village quarter and a symbolic “human chain” of people holding hands wrapping right around the city’s LGBT district.
For more information, visit the Pride House Manchester FAQs page here.
