Bourne Free hits do
Bourne Free is Bournemouth’s LGBT Pride Festival.
It is an annual celebration of all diversities that live
in Bournemouth and the constant strive towards
universal equality for all through entertainment and
awareness.
When did Bourne Free start?
Bourne Free was originally set up in 2004 when a far right organisation was due to come
to Bournemouth and preach that homosexuality was wrong. Many prominent figures and
active members of the gay communities in the area came together to organise an event
in the Lower Gardens to protect the gay communities from the bigots and keep them
together for a day of celebration, rather than of hostility.
The event included entertainers performing at The Bandstand to support diversity, a
balloon release with a 2 minute silence for victims of hate crime and Bournemouth’s first
Gay Pride march. By the end of the day those that had come together just a few weeks
before the preachers came to Bournemouth, the Bourne Free Committee, felt that they
could have done even more if they’d had more time.
It was decided that the committee would get back together and repeat the event every
year, but as an official charity with designated roles. Bourne Free would become an
annual celebration in the heart of Bournemouth for everyone to see the diversities in the
community and to enjoy a variety of entertainment. In 2006, the title of the event was
changed to the Bourne Free Pride Festival.
SUMMER 2014
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