Aberdeen will host its inaugural gay pride parade next summer.
Preparations are underway for the celebration, which is expected to be staged on Union Street, as a collaboration between the city council and the Grampian Regional Equalities Council (GREC).
Pride parades are events celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) culture. They often serve as demonstrations for legal rights such as same-sex marriage.
A council report on the event states: “Plans are underway with Aberdeen City Council, Four Pillars and GREC to bring a Gay Pride event to Aberdeen in the summer of 2018.
“The event is designed to celebrate the LGBT+ community, improve the general public’s awareness of this community, and assist in ACC’s compliance with the Equality Act 2010 General Duty.”
Glasgow and Edinburgh already have popular parades through their city centres.
Aberdeen South Conservative MP Ross Thomson, himself a gay man, said: “I am 100% behind these plans for a gay pride event for Aberdeen next summer.
“I think it would be a fantastic way to celebrate the LGBT+ community here in the north-east of Scotland.
“These types of parades now take place all over the world, including in UK cities like London, Manchester, Glasgow and Edinburgh. It is only right that we should have a celebration in Scotland’s third largest city.
“A similar event here in Aberdeen would be a great addition and I am sure would attract a large number of people.”
