Queer activists to stage alternative pride in Sheffield this weekend

Queer activists are staging a march across Sheffield this Saturday (22 July), with the aim of reclaiming pride as a movement of protest.

Formed earlier this year, Sheffield Radical Pride describe themselves as a "queer activist group not asking permission to take up space in our city."

In April, the group led a 200-person march through Sheffield city centre in support of trans rights.

This Saturday's march starts at 2pm outside City Hall and will end with a "queer takeover" of Endcliffe Park from 5pm under the banner, "Fuck cops, fuck capitalism."

The event has been planned in response to Sheffield's well-documented lack of an official pride event, as well as the more celebratory focus of last weekend's Pinknic in the Peace Gardens.

Yorkshire Live reports that South Yorkshire Police sent undercover officers to Pinknic and tweeted that "our deployments can pop up any time, and in any place".

The force also had a stall at the event featuring a police helmet painted sparkly pink, leading to Radical Pride organisers accusing them of "literally pinkwashing" their uniform.

In April, the chair of the Police Federation, a quasi trade union for officers, said he accepted that London's Metropolitan Police are institutionally homophobic, sexist and racist.

Meanwhile, bigger mainstream pride events have been accused of becoming too corporate, with this year's London Pride even featuring a float from arms manufacturer Lockheed Martin. At the same event Just Stop Oil activists blocked a float sponsored by Coca-Cola, who climate activists have accused of being complicit in global climate breakdown.

This weekend's march aims to offer an alternative, with organisers tweeting that "pretty social media graphics don’t make up for the other 11 months of the year when politicians and corporations ignore our struggles and exploit us."

"Pride is a protest, rebellion, uprising, a civil rights disobedience. You'll find no uniformed police dancing in the street at Sheffield Radical Pride," tweeted DPAC Sheffield.

"No corporate BS. No celebs cashing in."