Scout Pride
Learn about Scout Pride and how you can get involved
Quick links
Whatever your sexual orientation or gender identity, attending Pride events is a great way to celebrate diversity and promote inclusion in Scouts.
Why Scouts attend Pride
Attending Pride events demonstrates our commitment to building a more inclusive society and openly welcoming LGBTQ+ members. It’s great fun and provides opportunities to meet other Scouts from your local area and across the UK. It’s also a brilliant way to engage with the public and encourage new people to join Scouts.
What happens at Pride?
A Pride event is usually run in a city or town by a charity committee, who organise either a parade or a community area, or a combination of both.
The first Pride event in the UK was held in London on 1st July 1972, to align with the anniversary of the Stonewall riots in America three years earlier. Around 2000 people attended this event. These days, Pride events take place all over the UK and in 2022, over 1 million people attended Pride in London.
Parades are typically made up of individuals, families, local companies, charities and other organisations who all wish to celebrate LGBTQ+ identities and/or show their commitment to equality. Community areas are made up of lots of stalls and entertainment. Scout Groups, Districts or Counties may run stalls at Pride events to reach out to potential new members and put them in touch with Scouts locally.
Each Pride event has a different feel and focus. Some are more family-focused, such as in Birmingham, which usually has a community area and funfair. Others have more of a party atmosphere, such as in Brighton.
Attending Pride
There are lots of opportunities to attend a Pride event with Scouts. We’re usually represented at different events across the UK. If you want to join in, you can discover the pride events we're attending as Scouts in 2024.
Our National Inclusion team coordinates attendance at Pride in London, where we attend the parade and partner with Pride in London to deliver the Pride family and youth area.
Organising Pride
If you’re looking to organise Scout attendance at a Pride event in the UK, check out our guide to organising Pride. It provides a timeline of actions to help you plan your event, along with additional supporting resources and contacts.
You can contact our National Pride team by emailing us at scout.pride@scouts.org.uk.
What our members have said about attending Pride
Something that had a big impact on me was being able, as a young LGBT+ person, to be surrounded by similar people and it not mattering at all who was gay and who wasn’t.
It opens doors, inspires young people and potential volunteers to be confident in who they are, regardless of sexual orientation, and informs them that they’re accepted.
It’s important to demonstrate to young people that it doesn’t matter who you are, we value you as a Scout.