Come Out For Cornwall Pride took the Pride flag to St. Michael’s Mount | Photo: The Gay UK magazine
Cornwall waved the largest UK’s rainbow flag in 11 cities during the world’s first Pride tour in the world last 23 June.
The stunning coastline of England’s most southwestern county provided an incredible scenario to this groundbreaking event.
Hopping on the Come Out For Cornwall Pride’s colorful open-topped bus, organizers and voluntaries toured the county’s amazing maritime locations to bring the Pride spirit to as many people as possible within the 24 hours.
The event anticipated Cornwall Pride parade, which will take place on 25 August in Newquay.
The UK’s largest rainbow flag unfurled on the beach | Photo: The Gay UK magazine
The Pride tour route
Off to an early start, the bus left in the morning to complete its scheduled route in just one day. Kicking off in Newquay at 9am, the tour took 11 hours, returning in the city at 9:55pm.
The bus also stopped off at other 10 incredible locations: Wadebridge, Launceston, Bodmin, St. Austell, Truro, Falmouth, Heartlands, Hayle, Marazion, and Penzance.
Cornwall Pride tour was a first for some of the cities and towns involved. Bodmin, for instance, had never hosted a Pride event before.
The Pride tour involved the local LGBTI community | Photo: The Gay UK magazine
‘An incredible achievement’
‘Cornwall is a very rural part of the country and has very limited transport links. That is why the ability to bring Cornwall Pride on tour, the very first in the world, has been an incredible achievement,’ said organizer and Cornwall Pride’s chair Matthew Kenworthy Gomes.
‘The feedback from the people who joined to celebrate with us to be themselves at each stop has blown us away.’
Come Out For Cornwall Pride aimed to build a larger support network for the LGBTI community. Furthermore, the event provided an opportunity for locals to be part of the Pride and to embrace their own identity.
The tour was sponsored by the Eden Project and First Kernow, as well as the international LGBT charity, Stonewall.
A rainbow sunset during one of the last stops of Cornwall Pride Tour | Photo: The Gay UK magazine
The UK’s biggest rainbow flag
The UK’s largest rainbow flag was unfurled in front of St. Michael’s Mount in Marazion. The same flag will return for the parade later this summer, says Kenworthy Gomes.
Cornwall Pride will be ‘an opportunity to challenge the hate and discrimination that happens on a day to day basis across the county. We expect a bigger, better and more exciting Pride Parade on 25 August, bringing together the different communities in Cornwall in one venue.’
Read more about Prides:
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