National Student Pride to end after 21 years

An annual event aimed at giving LGBTQ+ students networking opportunities is set to end after 21 years in London due to a drop in corporate sponsorship.

National Student Pride, a non-profit organisation created in 2005, said its income had reduced by about two-thirds in the last two years, "largely due to widespread cuts to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) budgets" by sponsors.

It said other sponsors had to be dropped after it introduced an "ethical sponsorship" policy last year, following some LGBTQ+ groups' protests against sponsors' links to Israel and the fossil fuel industry.

In 2024, the event had 24 sponsors, this year there are only eight.

One of the original founders and a current trustee, Tom Guy, said the group was established as a "direct response" to a "homophobic and deeply divisive" talk at Oxford Brookes University which was hosted by its Christian Union.

"We chose to respond by creating something constructive.

"Our very first event intentionally centred on a welcoming and inclusive panel, which included both a vicar and a rabbi, to show that faith, identity and LGBTQ+ lives do not have to be in conflict."

He added: "That founding principle - meeting prejudice with openness and conversation has shaped National Student Pride for the past 21 years."

The event went on to become the UK's largest LGBTQ+ student event, however, Guy said, it could not continue without corporate sponsorship.

Speaking to the BBC, he said international politics may also partly be behind why companies were reducing or cutting DEI budgets, and in turn their sponsorship of the event.

Last year, it was reported that US embassies in Europe distributed letters to a number of EU-based corporations that provide services in some way to the US government, and ordered them to comply with the Trump administration's policies banning DEI programming.

In a letter to its clients, law firm Clifford Chance advised companies to: "Examine what programs they have in place, what they have committed to and announced publicly, and prepare to demonstrate how their workforce programs and actions comply with US civil rights laws and regulations."

Not only had sponsors dropped away, Guy said, but fewer employers were now willing to attend the event's large career fair, a central focus of the weekend festival, and the main source of income.

In 2024, 53 companies wished to be part of the careers event. This year, only 20 would sign up.

He said LGBTQ+ initiatives by corporations seemed "increasingly deprioritised" amid the "shifting geopolitical landscape", as well as the current "economic uncertainty".

Despite the announcement, organisers said this year's event, due to take place this weekend at the University of Westminster, would still be going ahead.

Organisers said the event would end with a "Dragstravaganza finale" with guests Amanda and Jessie from The Traitors.

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