Edinburgh Pride 2020: date, how to get tickets and this year’s theme

Edinburgh boasts a community full of diversity and acceptance, and a cultural marker of this is the annual Edinburgh Pride parade that marches through the streets.

Will you be going to Pride this year? (Photo: Shutterstock)

This year will mark the 25th anniversary Pride event in the capital of Scotland and this is everything that you need to know in preparation.

When is Edinburgh Pride 2020?

This year’s Pride Edinburgh will take place on Saturday 13 June 2020, about a week earlier than last year's celebrations which took place on 22 June.

In 2019, the march started with crowds gathered at 11:30am at the Scottish Parliament building, with speeches commencing at 12pm and the march eventually moving off at 12:30pm.

The march headed north, turning onto Canongate, the High Street, Lawnmarket Junction, George IV Bridge, Bristo Place, Potterrow and Crichton Street and finally ending at the EUSA Campus.

It has not yet been announced if Pride 2020 will follow the same timings and route as last year.

What can I expect at Pride?

Pride Edinburgh 2019 brought over 10,000 people to the capital to celebrate love and diversity, with ten separate venues filled with Pride celebrations and the Manchester Airport Stage providing entertainment.

For the third year in a row, Manchester Airport is back as a headline sponsor, so will be bringing back its stage, with acts yet to be announced.

The same as the years before it, people attending pride can expect a march through the streets of Edinburgh, LGBT+ stalls, venues and entertainment, all to be announced nearer the time.

Tickets

Edinburgh Pride is a free event for the people of Edinburgh to take part in.

The march, entry to the arena and venues with stalls are all free to enter, but there will be bars and other events still to be announced that can cost money.

Stay up to date with the latest news about the day on the Pride Edinburgh website.

Meaning of the theme

The theme of this year’s Pride celebrations is Let it Be. Pride Edinburgh said that the theme is “to celebrate love and people”.

The Chair of Pride Edinburgh describes it as “letting love be and letting people be”.

Last year the theme was This is Me.

History of Edinburgh Pride

Pride Edinburgh is Scotland’s National LGBT+ festival. It was previously known as Pride Scotland which began in 1995 and the march alternated between Glasgow and Edinburgh each year.

Glasgow and Edinburgh eventually began to run separate pride events in the two cities in 2003. Pride Edinburgh was then known as Pride Scotia for 10 years before relaunching as Pride Edinburgh in 2015.

The Pride march provides a platform for politicians, community activists and individuals to come together on the streets of Edinburgh to celebrate Pride.

The global starting point for pride began with the Stonewall Uprising in New York. On June 28, 1969, police arrived at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in Greenwich Village. At the time, homosexuality was still a crime. Men could be arrested for wearing drag and women could also be punished if they were found to not be wearing enough traditionally feminine clothing.

The 200 patrons in the Stonewall Inn resisted arrest and rioted, sending the message that the LGBT+ community was done with being persecuted by the police.