An Open Letter to LCR PRIDE regarding the future of Liverpool PRIDE.

Dear LCR PRIDE Board Members

My name is Jeneen. I am a member of our LGBTQIA+ community, and the parent to a trans teen. I am writing to you regarding the future of PRIDE in Liverpool.

The signatories and I are calling on LCR Pride Foundation to withdraw from organising any more future Pride events and make space for a new team with relevant skill and experience to take responsibility. 

LCR was established in 2018 and had a few successful years. Unfortunately since then there has been multiple changes to the board and a profound decline in the communities trust for the organisations ability to provide an event that is inclusive, safe, and accessible. 

In 2023 and 2024 parts of the community asked you to reconsider who you were accepting funding from, namely organisations that were funding war, and that were actively harming parts of the community. When you didn't listen, they boycotted and community became fragmented.

In 2025 you cancelled the planned PRIDE event with a few months notice due to poor planning, lack of staff, and financial issues. You stated back then that you agreed that LCR Pride Foundation had repeatedly failed to deliver an event that reflected the communities needs. You said that you wanted to rebuild relationships instead of closing.

Fortunately, the community came together in 2025, with support from Sahir House to save PRIDE, and the event was successful. 

Sahir House then offered to support LCR again this year, 2026, whilst LCR tried to re-establish trust within the community. LCR and Sahir had clearly defined roles and actions. LCR was the responsible organisation for the muster & march. 

You are aware of the complaints about the muster and march. I sent a formal complaint on 27th July 2026 that was not public. It detailed critical failures relating to the hazardous muster that acted like a restrictive pen, the forced separation of families and disabled attendees, the dangerous route and lack of stewards, and the hostile security who threatened vulnerable, marginslised people with police intervention. 

You also know that these failings resulted in emotional upset, fear, and distress for many members, including children and young people. Some people left the event during the march because of safety concerns and have stated "never again". The private complaint I sent to you included voices of over 100 people. 

You also gathered feedback from others, as did Sahir House, yet we have not been privy to those details. 

You said you would begin an immediate internal investigation and keep us updated on your findings. You replied to my private complaint on 9th August, and whilst my reply contained more detail than your public response did, neither included accountability or an apology. 

In your public communications via Instagram and Facebook, you minimised and invalidated the experience of attendees, you passed blame to the external providers that you hired, and you didn't acknowledge a number of the complaint points. Your apparent reluctance to apologise conveys to the public that you have not accepted responsibility for the failures, therfore can not possibly understand what or how to improve and move forward. Being unable to say "we are sorry" only cements the mistrust the community already has for LCR Pride Foundation. 

Following your inadequate public response, I have escalated the complaint to Liverpool City Council. As have others. I do not believe that these conversations should continue privately because i feel a sense of responsibility to our community, and am therefore making this an open letter. 

Our city and its people deserve to have a PRIDE event that is at a bare minimum safe, and accessible to all who want to attend. Unfortunately, many of those people do not feel able to attend if LCR attempt to organise PRIDE 2027. I personally, can no longer invite or advocate that others families with children attend PRIDE events should LCR be the organiser. We deserve an event that is built around the needs of those attending, with competent crowd management, accessible routes, effective stewarding, and people in charge who don't say "we are listening" without actually hearing what we are saying when concerns are raised. LCR have repeatedly made mistakes and relationships have not been rebuilt.

We know that some PRIDE events across the country have struggled in recent years. But also know that some PRIDE events across the country remain successful and have only grown. Liverpool deserves the chance to have our PRIDE on the map again as a safe, inclusion event to protest for declining the human rights of LGBTQIA+ people, and celebrate the joy and excellence of each other. 

It feels vital to add that this open letter is not about any individual person or board member, and that the requests intention is for the greater good of our LGBTQIA+ community, and our city.

I urge any and all responses to remain respectful, and civil. 

Sincerely 

Jeneen