Pride Month 2026
Posted on Thursday 14 May 2026
We encourage every member of our community to engage with our Pride Month celebrations and activities - not just to recognise the incredible value our LGBTQ+ peers bring to our campus, but to stand in solidarity against the obstacles they continue to face. If you would like more information about how you can get involved, please contact us at equality@york.ac.uk
At the heart of our mission is a partnership with our LGBTQ+ students and staff. We host various activities throughout the year to raise awareness of the unique struggles the community faces, both in the UK and abroad. We listen, we learn, and we act, with the ultimate goal of creating an inclusive environment free from prejudice, based on identity or orientation.
11 years on: Raising the Progress Pride flag
Wednesday 3 June, 12pm to 1pm, Greg’s Place
Our annual Pride flag-raising event is a grass-roots, staff and student-led tradition, supported by our campus trade unions. Speakers include LGBTQ+ students and staff, and senior leaders.
It began in 2015 when Dr Adrian Lee, an LGBTQ+ staff member, approached the Vice Chancellor with a simple but important idea: to create a space where our community could stand together. It has since become a cornerstone of our calendar - a day to acknowledge our struggles, celebrate our progress and call on University leadership to pledge their ongoing support.
Dr Adrian Lee, now a Policy Manager in the Academic Quality and Development Team, explains how the annual flag raising began:
“I first contacted the then Vice Chancellor in 2015 about raising the rainbow flag on campus after he encouraged staff to get in touch with ideas, suggestions or concerns about working at the University. At the time I was a member of the University EDI Committee, LGBTQ+ Staff Forum and a local LGBTQ+ community group.
I think it's as important now as it was then that LGBTQ+ identities, people and their achievements are visible, recognised and celebrated when there is still so much misunderstanding, challenge and hostility whether it's in your face or subtle.
Raising the flag shows everyone they are recognised, valued and supported when they might not always feel that way. It provides a stimulus also for conversations about inclusion, identity, diversity and respect within our community.
Having been at the University since 1998, knowing that the flag raising each year is something I had a part in instigating, continues to give me a real sense of pride in who I am and in what the University stands for.”
We have continued to raise the Pride flag every year since 2015, in recognition of the struggles facing the LGBTQ+ community, and to take a moment to reflect on how we can work together to tackle discrimination and inequality.
Flag-raising details
The Progress Pride Flag raising will mark the start of the Pride Month and is sponsored by UNISON and UCU who will be providing refreshments and cakes.
Speeches will be delivered by LGBTQ+ students and staff, including representatives of the Student Union and the Rainbow Alliance LGBTQ+ Staff Network.
Pride 2025: staff and student speeches and photo gallery
York Pride Parade - Saturday 30 May
The University is a Silver sponsor of the York Pride Parade. As in previous years, we will take part in the parade, marching from the Minster to the Knavesmire, and we're hosting a stall at the Knavesmire. We welcome all members of our community to join us and stand in solidarity with our LGBTQ+ community.
To join us for the parade, meet in St Sampson’s Square between 11am and 11.20am - look out for the University banners to find our contingent!
If you wish to gather before 11am, you can meet up in the nearby Museum Gardens and make your way to St Sampson’s Square for 11am. The parade starts at 12pm: further information is available on the Pride website.
If you have any questions about the parade or if you would like to get involved by volunteering to be a UoY marshal, carry a University banner or help out at the stall on the Knavesmire, please contact equality@york.ac.uk.
Photography and video notice
Photography and video recording will take place during the Progress Pride Flag Raising and the Pride Parade, which may be used for marketing purposes by the University of York. If you have any concerns or would prefer not to feature, please email communications-support@york.ac.uk. For further information about how we use photography or video which includes you please see our privacy notice.
What's on during Pride month
Blackout Poetry Workshop
Wednesday 27 May, 10.30am to 11.30am, in-person (Piazza Building, PZA/124)
Poetry workshop to mark Pride Month, open to all students and staff, no booking required. Hosted by Amie-May Wilson - email amie-may.wilson@york.ac.uk for any queries.
'Softly gentleman-like': Music, identity and courtship in the diaries and music books of Anne Lister
Saturday 6 June, 3pm to 4pm, in-person only, Heslington Hall, Campus West
Anne Lister, the lesbian diarist of Halifax (1791 to 1840), spent much of her time among polite society in York. Although she is known the world over for her words, she was also a committed musician and music-making played an important role for her in socialising and courtship. Join Rachel Cowgill, Lisa Timbs and Constance Halstead of the University of York as they explore the music Anne Lister knew and loved from her own collections.
Write your Pride
Tuesday 9 June, 5pm to 6.30pm, in-person (Fairhurst Building, LFA/204) and online
Workshop and open mic session hosted by Kat Lund. If your mind was an empty page, how would you fill it? What words would you use to write yourself? From journaling to letters, poetry to statements, writing about who we are is not only a powerful statement, it can be a transformative part of our journey of self, instrumental in us finding who we are and what defines us.
Free to attend, but please book your place - open to all students and staff.
Find out more and book for 'Write your Pride'
Anne Lister and Friends: Life, words and music
Wednesday 10 June, 7.30pm to 9.30pm, in-person only, State Room, York Mansion House, St Helen's Square
Diarist Anne Lister is now celebrated the world over for her extraordinary contribution to literary heritage, but how many of us are aware she was also a keen musician? As part of the online archive many of Lister's personal accounts of music-making among friends and attendance at concerts and the opera both at home and abroad will be presented alongside recorded performances of the music itself on instruments of the period with the tone and tuning Lister herself would have been familiar with. Supported by Queer Arts, all are welcome.
Watch this space for details of more University events.
Resources and related links
There are a number of useful internally and externally produced resources related to the LGBT+ community hosted on the University’s Equality, Diversity and Inclusion web pages:
- Guidance on how to support our trans and non-binary community
- Our commitment to supporting our trans and non-binary community
Glossary of EDI terminology
We believe that in order to understand who we are as a University community and to gain a better insight into the diverse identities of our staff and students, it is important for us to be aware of the equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) terminology that is associated with individuals and groups.
With that in mind, we have compiled a glossary of EDI terms, intended as a starting point for people to further their knowledge and understanding of this area.
Networks and support
The University is committed to working closely with and supporting our LGBT+ staff and student communities throughout the year on a number of initiatives, you can find out more about our staff and student networks:
Watch again
We have a number of recordings from previous LGBT+ History Month and other related awareness events, that are available for you to watch again via the University's Equality Office and York Ideas YouTube channels:
- All the Violet Tiaras: Queering the Greek myths - Jean Menzies (York Festival of Ideas 2024)
- Five Decades of LGBT+ Activism: Stuart Feather in conversation (York Festival of Ideas 2024)
- Pride 2024 flag raising
- Rainbow Alliance action plan
- Caring for the Grey in LGBTQ+