Seagull Recommends: Pride Special 2023

Hello and welcome back to Seagull Recommends! Apologies for the delay in this week's recommendations, our editor is over in Ireland for a few days (lucky for some!) In case you've been living under a rock, it's Pride weekend this weekend, and it's the 50th anniversary of the city's first gay pride march. Remember: pride is a protest, a campaign, and a celebration. It's a chance to celebrate being LGBTQ+ and how far LGBTQ+ rights have come, but also a painful reminder of, as Brighton & Hove Pride put it, 'hard fought for rights being eroded… we are still a long way from equality'.

The Brighton Seagull stands in solidarity with every member of the LGBTQ+ community.

Without further ado, here are all our top picks for Pride weekend! And Pride Monday. And Pride Tuesday, Wednesday… Let's have a kiki!

If you come across anything coming up in the city that you think we should know about, let us know!

🧺DIY Pride: The annual DIY Pride celebrations are in Saunders Park tomorrow. For safety and accessibility reasons, they won't be going ahead with their full planning programme (weather forecast and wind warnings), however they will still be having a picnic from 2pm to 6pm.

🏳️‍🌈Chill Pride: Want a chill evening tonight? Free The Nipple are having a night of placard making at The Queery, from 7pm to 8:30. It's free to go, do book so they know how many people are going (tickets). Tomorrow, The Queery will be open from 11am to 6pm as a creative, sober, chill-out space, with crafts!

🎡Family Fun Day: The Ledward Centre are running a family fun day tomorrow, with a carousel, fun house, trampolines, a photo booth, arts and crafts, paper sessions, and a Pride shop where flags, bracelets, fans, badges and face paint are for sale. Find out more here.

🤣Comedy: Two Pride specials at Komedia Comedy Club this weekend: tonight, Stephen Bailey, Harry Wright and Zoe Lyons take to the stage, MC'd by Charlie George (tickets); tomorrow,  Stephen Bailey, Harry Wright and Charlie George will be cracking jokes, MC'd by Ninia Benjamin (tickets).

🪩Party: Brighton Rocks Bar in Kemptown is hosting a disco party tonight to warm up for Pride: 6 Rock Place, all night long; tomorrow from 1pm to 11pm, Bison Beach Bar are holding a Pride party/kiki/general celebration, with disco, funk, latin, rare groove and much more.

🏺Pottery: Join Megan Elliott, founder of Clay Wild, for a relaxing queer pottery workshop at The Queery on Thursday, celebrating self-love for Pride! During the two-hour class, you'll be shown how to make a 'body pot' out of air-drying clay, using traditional hand-building techniques and with minimal tools. No experience necessary—suitable for all levels! It is a class prioritising queer joy, embodiment and creativity in a safe, sober space (very limited tickets left).

🎨Art: The Pride at 50 exhibition is now open! It's at Jubilee Library to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first Brighton Gay Pride March organised by the Sussex Gay Liberation Front (SGLF) in July 1973. This exhibition is part of the city-wide ‘Pride at 50’ campaign where we remember and uplift some of the trailblazers whose actions ignited, and continue to build, the Pride movement. The foyer gallery hosts archive images of the first SGLF Brighton Gay Pride March, and the window gallery inside the library contains nine new portraits of SGLF veterans by award-winning local photographer Chris Jepson.

🥞Food: Enjoy the parade tomorrow in style with the Hilton's Pride brunch, a 90-minute bottomless brunch with prosecco and a welcome rainbow shot, as well as a seat on the terrace to watch the parade go by (tickets).

🍹Drink: Enjoy a drink of something cold at the Charles Street Tap, with 'camp bops' by Amy Laqueefa tonight from 9pm, followed by their pride opening party from 10pm-3pm, and the infamous Aprés Pride after party on Sunday from 9pm.