Manchester Pride 2023 concludes with powerfully emotional candlelight vigil
For the first time since Manchester Pride 2023 kicked off on Friday, Manchester’s Gay Village came to a halt this evening as a sea of lights flickered from within Sackville Gardens. “We stand on the shoulders of those before us,” actor Rikki Beadle-Blair tells the audience congregating in their hundreds. “There were many fights before this one but we won.
We won again and again, honey. When we fight together, we always win.” Try MEN Premium for FREE by clicking here for no ads, fun puzzles and brilliant new features As huge cheers bellowed out, the vigil took on the Parade’s ‘Queerly Beloved’ theme and ran with it.
Rikki in a wedding dress was then joined by the likes of The Sunday Boys, The Manchester Proud Chorus and a trans woman who came out as HIV woman on stage.
And then hundreds of candles were lit to remember those who have been lost to HIV and those who have fought for the rights of the LGBTQ+ community who are no longer with us.
