UK Black Pride launches first-of-its-kind survey to find out what life is really like for queer Black Brits
Last time the UK Black Pride event was able to take place in-person was 2019, where Toya Delazy and MNEK performed. (Quintina Valero/Getty)
UK Black Pride has launched its inaugural Community Survey to find out more about LGBT+ Black people and people of colour in the UK.
Titled We Will Be Heard, the survey will be used to inform UK Black Pride’s first Community Action Plan, which will decide where funding should be invested in order to best support the community.
It has been launched, in part, in response to the government’s National LGBT+ Survey, in which over 92 per cent of the responses received were from white individuals.
Co-founder of UK Black Pride, Lady Phyll, called the survey a “labour of love”. She added: “Our communities remain overlooked and underestimated, but it may be that the right people aren’t doing the asking. So we’re stepping up to ask what the communities we represent feel, need and find joy in.”
Lady Phyll said she was “particularly excited” about the Community Action Plan. She explained: “We’ll commit to delivering funding to organisations that are doing great work in the community to help LGBTQI+ Black people and people of colour live full, joyful and healthy lives.”
The survey will be supported by LGBT+ charity Stonewall and data analytics agency Kantar.
UK Black Pride is the largest celebration in Europe for LGBT+ people of African, Asian, Caribbean, latin American and Middle-Eastern descent.
The organisation recently announced that UK Black Pride will return in 2021 for its 16th year, confirming the theme ‘Love and Rage’ for the weekend of 2 to 4 July. Lady Phyll said the theme was chosen “to honour what has been a tremendously difficult year for so many in our communities”.
In a blog post, she wrote: “We’ve seen firsthand over the past year our communities’ persistent commitment to each other; the ways we show up, in big and small ways, is nothing short of inspiring.
“We continue to show what it means to love, to love hard and to love against the odds.”
It was announced shortly before Brighton Pride decided to cancel for the second year running amid safety fears in the ongoing pandemic.
In 2020, UK Black Pride had to be held virtually due to the pandemic. The theme, fittingly, was ‘Home’.
