The Manchester Pride Festival brings in thousands of people to celebrate and protest for queer people, culture and liberation throughout the August bank holiday weekend each year. Offering one of the biggest Pride events in Europe, including global superstar headliners like Ariana Grande and Nelly Furtado, the festival contributes millions to the local economy. 

Despite this, many LGBTQ+ artists, suppliers and freelancers have revealed that they were not paid for the work that they provided for Manchester Pride’s 2025 Festival. Many of the unpaid members of our queer communities rely on their payment from Manchester Pride, and have been left in a state of financial insecurity and uncertainty. 

Due to the reckless and irresponsible decisions of the Board of Trustees, Manchester Pride has entered voluntary liquidation. This has led to the redundancy of the charity’s staff who have fought tirelessly to support their communities however they could. 

Ultimately, queer communities have been hurt the hardest, and now anti-LGBTQ+ voices have new fuel to throw onto the fire of hate and fascism growing in this country. 

But Pride will not end here. Pride is a global social movement for intersectional queer liberation. It cannot die through one charity’s liquidation. It remains alive in the actions of communities to ensure all LGBTQ+ people have fair and equal access to opportunities, rights and freedoms. 

And so, to support the economic liberation of impacted communities, we are campaigning to get these queers paid! After the liquidation of Manchester Pride, LGBTQ+ artists, sole traders, small businesses and staff need to be paid NOW!

Our demands: 

1. The liquidation of Manchester Pride must compensate independent LGBTQ+ entities before larger organisations and corporations

2. Larger creditors should absorb losses to ensure marginalised communities are paid 

3. Businesses and organisations should hire and promote impacted LGBTQ+ entities during this difficult time

4. Allies should contribute to fundraisers for local LGBTQ+ community groups and artists and continue to support local queer events

This petition focuses on the first two of our demands, calling on the liquidator of Manchester Pride Ltd. and the larger creditors owed for their goods and services to prioritise LGBTQ+ communities. We call for queer people to be paid FIRST and for all others to withhold their acceptance of any funds until impacted communities have been compensated.