Manchester Pride has returned and is back with live music, the Gay Village Party and the candlelit vigil, turning the city centre into one big party. The Gay Village Party line up aims to shine a light on some of the very best of Manchester’s LGBTQ+ talent.

Canal Street in Manchester. Photo: Jessica Hay

However, there is one slight change as the much-loved parade, which normally attracts tens of thousands of visitors to the city centre, has this year been cancelled. Organisers are proclaiming the weekend to be their most diverse programme yet, with local artists including mandla, Val Queen, Monopolyphonic, Jsky and legendary local drag queen Misty Chance taking to the stages across the weekend.

Manchester Pride takes place this weekend. Photo: Jessica Hay

The event will also play host to The Untold Orchestra, Bimini Bon Boulash, House Gospel Choir, Ginny Lemon, Tom Aspaul and the return of the ever popular Silent Disco. The Sackville Gardens stage will now be known as the Alan Turing Stage, Sackville Car Park has been renamed to the Playground Stage and indoor arena is now known as the Mancunity Stage.

A rainbow-coloured bee as Manchester celebrates Pride weekend. Photo: Jessica Hay

The Alan Turing Stage is named after the iconic Mancunian, Alan Turing, who was one of the leading codebreakers of the world war two Enigma machine.

His ideas led to early versions of modern computing and helped win World War II.

Yet in 1954, he died as a criminal for his homosexuality, having been convicted under Victorian laws as a homosexual and forced to endure chemical castration.

Only in 2009 did the government apologise for his treatment. With the introduction of the Alan Turing Stage, Manchester Pride aims to honour Alan Turing, and also all other people who have been convicted for being LGBTQ+.

Manchester Pride: City gears up for huge weekend of celebrations of LGBTQ+ people and communities