Thousands take part as Belfast hosts Northern Ireland's largest ever pride parade

Thousands of people took to the streets of Belfast as its largest ever Pride parade made its way through the city.

More than 250 different groups signed up to take part in Saturday's event, an increase of 25% on last year.

A downpour just before the start of the parade failed to dampen spirits and sunshine soon returned as colourful floats passed along the city's streets in a carnival atmosphere.

Young and old were among the flag-waving crowds lining the route.

The theme for Belfast Pride 2023 was Stand By Your Trans, and the parade was led off by trans, non-binary and gender diverse people.

Co-chairman of Belfast Pride John O'Doherty said the event was unapologetically trans-inclusive.

He said that message was a contributory factor in the large turnout.

"Pride has been growing year on year, but I think particularly our message this year really resonated with people," he told the PA news agency.

"The Stand By Your Trans message is such an important one and allows people to lend their voice to a campaign that so many of us support but haven't had the capacity or the vehicle to be able to show our full support behind."

Despite the record number of registrations, focus in the build-up to this year's event had concentrated on who was not attending.

The Police Service of Northern Ireland this year reversed a decision from 2017 which allowed officers to take part in uniform, citing obligations to impartiality.

Meanwhile, Belfast Pride banned Ulster Rugby from taking part, in response to the organisation's decision to prohibit transgender women from playing in female contact games.

Mr O'Doherty said other sporting codes that take similar decisions in the future would face the same sanction.

"Trans and non-binary people deserve the equality access to sports and the blanket ban introduced by Ulster Rugby was wrong and any future sporting group that makes a similar decision will face the same reaction from Belfast Pride, their application will be refused," he said.

On the PSNI decision, he added: "I've spent the last three or four weeks speaking to so many LGBTQI+ police officers - they are so disappointed, they're so unhappy."

Mr O'Doherty said the PSNI had let down its staff and the community in Northern Ireland.

"I think good moves have been made in recent years by the PSNI, but I think if you ask people who are here today if they felt more comfortable today reporting a crime than they did six weeks ago, I think the majority of people would say no.

"So, I think it's an unfortunate decision. I think the PSNI now need to do some soul searching on that."

Asked about the prospect of the PSNI switching its stance again in 2024, Mr O'Doherty suggested that the organisers may think twice about approving a future application.

"I don't know what position the police will take and I think they shouldn't guess at what decision Belfast Pride would take if there was a future application," he said.

Announcing the PSNI decision earlier this month, Assistant Chief Constable Bobby Singleton said he understood the move would be disappointing for some, but added that the PSNI had "statutory obligations to act with fairness, integrity and impartiality".

The Irish Rugby Football Union, Ulster Rugby's governing body, said it was disappointed by the decision but respected it.

The IRFU also stressed its "ongoing commitment" to "supporting the LGBTQIA+ community".

Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know.