Durham Pride UK teams up with Durham Miners and trade unions for major fundraiser after council pulls funding

Durham Pride, Durham Miners Association, and the TUC have condemned Durham Councils decision to axe its charity’s funding for the annual celebration, which has been a fixture in the city for over a decade. The event, which is genuinely inclusive of everyone, attracts thousands of people from all over the UK, promoting tourism and helping to boost the local economy.

The council has withdrawn its funding for the event, citing financial pressures and what they refer to as a ‘specific and contested political ideology‘.

An email to Durham Pride UK organisers contains a reference to a discussion on right-wing news channel GB news criticising support for Trans Rights at other Pride events.

Durham Pride, the Durham Miners Association, and the TUC are proud to stand up for the rights of all LGBT+ people across the North East, and their right to celebrate who they are.

In defiance of the decision, Durham Pride had announced a significant fundraising drive being launched at Redhill’s, Durham Miners’ Hall, on 5 September 2025, from 6.30 pm.

The fundraiser will feature a special screening of the award-winning film Pride the story of solidarity between striking miners and LGBT+ activists in 1984. Tickets are available now via Redhills and Durham Pride’s websites.

The evening will host representatives from former miners, politicians, and special guest Mike Jackson, a key figure and one of the founders of Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners, for a panel discussion.

Mel Metcalf, Chair of Durham Pride, said:

“The film is about standing united in the face of prejudice capturing what many thought was Thatcher’s assault on mining communities to the injustice of Section 28.

Today, as a new and growing prejudice threatens our trans siblings, it is again the Durham Miners and the trade union movement that stands with us.

The film captures 1980s Britain perfectly, and we are honoured to have Mike Jackson with us to discuss the film and his experiences during the strike and its impact, decades later.”

Dave Pike, Regional Secretary for the TUC North East, Yorkshire & Humber, said:

“While the Reform party is promoting division, I am proud to stand alongside the LGBT+ community in Durham, and the Miners Association, for unity and for a society that respects people regardless of our differences.

Pride is an important celebration for LGBT+ people, a chance to look back at the gains that have been made. For the council to withdraw their support shows the lack of care they have for the people of Durham.

A strong and visible pride matters, it matters for the thousands of LGBT+ people who experience hate crimes each year, it matters to the young kid deciding if it is safe to come out, and it matters to those vulnerable LGBT+ people who are four times more likely to attempt suicide.

The TUC stands for the rights of LGBT+ people, and we stand shoulder to shoulder as a community for Pride.”

Stephen Guy, Chair of the Durham Miners” Association (DMA), added:

“Pride events, since the first march in 1970, have had at their core protests to secure rights. The similarities of the challenges faced by the LGBT+ communities and the mining communities over the years are quite remarkable. Politicians who deem groups of people as unworthy of recognition or troublesome are often targets.

That was why LGSM reached out to mining communities to offer their solidarity in 1984/85. The time has come for the Durham Miners Association, the NUM, and others in the trade union movement to ramp up support for Durham Pride, which has been a target for closure since the Reform was elected in County Durham.

Reform councillors across County Durham have underestimated the resolve of the LGBT+ community and the support of allies across the trade union movement.“