Artists and Allies: Your Guide to CI Pride 2024

Saturday, 7 September 2024 10:15

The 9th Channel Islands Pride will see large crowds gather in Guernsey's Market Square.

The celebrations will begin in Candie Gardens at 1pm with a mixture of entertainment - from ballet to samba.

At 4pm the Pride Parade will begin their march through town, and along the High Street with 50 "Donkeycorns", and a 50m rainbow flag.

The crowd will arrive in Market Square in time to witness the world's first-ever legal wedding on a Pride stage, at 5.30pm.

Islanders and visitors will be free to explore a range of different zones in the square, including a Family Zone, a Silent Disco, the Alternative and Cabaret Stage, and a Quiet Zone.

Melissa Totten will take to the main stage at 7.30pm to perform as Madonna.

At 8.30pm the headline performance from Drag Queen Tia Kofi will begin. This year's winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK vs The World series is expected to lip-sync to some iconic camp pop bangers.

The free public event will end at 9pm.

Event organiser and Liberate CEO Ellie Jones says it is important to celebrate the progress made towards achieving equal rights.

“When you look at the lack of full legal protection for all marginalised people against hate crime and discrimination locally, together with the anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric in mainstream media and politics these last few years, it is clear that we still need Pride and we have still not reached equality.

While LGBTQ+ people are still made to feel any sort of shame about who they are, then Pride will need to exist to counteract that.”

Channel Islands Pride was first held in Jersey in 2015 and alternates between Guernsey and Jersey each year.