Jul 17

Limerick Pride 2019 Shines with the Largest Parade in History

by richanthon in News 0 comments 1919 tags: , , , , ,

 

 Limerick Pride 2019 Shines with the Largest Parade in History

Limerick Pride 2019 took place last Saturday, July 13 and was proved to be Limerick’s biggest Pride parade ever! Thousands of people of all ages lined the streets for Limerick’s most splendid and colourful day celebrating lesbian, gay bisexual and transgender culture. People travelled as far as the USA to celebrate this year’s Festival which marked the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in New York and the birth of the LGBT Pride movement.

This year’s Grand Marshall was Moninne Griffith, Executive Director of BeLonG To Youth Services, a national organisation supporting lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGBTI+) young people in Ireland.

Moninne told ilovelimerick what Limerick Pride 2019 means to her, “It is all about, visibility of the LGBT community, being proud and celebrating who we are, reminding everybody in the city and county that everyone has a sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression. We have come a long way in terms of LGBT rights but there is still a lot of work to be done to make sure that LGBT people feel visible, valued and included and that we achieve the Ireland we voted for in 2015.”

The annual parade celebrated its 13th year with an estimated 3,000 people and several corporate, voluntary and political organisations taking part. Among those marching were the Limerick county GAA board – the first county GAA group to take part.

Richard Lynch, founder of ilovelimerick and PRO of Limerick Pride 2019 told ilovelimerick what the Parade means to him, “We’re not marching for ourselves, we’re so blessed and fortunate in this country, we’re marching for other people, we’re fighting for other people all around the world that need equal rights. This is not about LGBT rights, this is about human rights for all.”

After the parade, Pridefest 2019 kicked off at the Hunt Museum, which was a free family-friendly event with a free bouncing castle for kids, cone van, cafe and bar on site. There was live music from Cork due, ‘Sparkle’, with plenty of entertainment. Myles Breen also performed the annual Tea Dance, where Mr and Ms Gay Limerick, Lorcan McAuliffe and Amanda Boland joined in.

However, Limerick Pride 2019 did not finish there. On Saturday evening, Dolan’s held the Limerick Pride annual Climax Party, a sold-out event. Performances on the night included Eurovision sensation Sarah McTernan, Limerick singer-songwriter Michelle Grimes and RuPaul’s Drag Race star Jujubee. 

Richard Lynch said, “The parade keeps on getting bigger every year and is the culmination of a week of Pride events in the city. The parades over the years have marked a number of campaigning milestones, including marriage equality in 2015 and the continued pursuit of equal rights for all LGBT groups including the rights to have children and inheritance rights. Our theme this year was Limerick World Pride, as we were marching not just for people in Ireland, but for people all around the world who don’t have the rights that we do in Ireland. We wanted to highlight human rights for all, in particular for the rights of LGBT individuals who continue to be persecuted in some countries throughout the world for their beliefs and sexual orientation. This is about equal human rights for everybody as we are a global LGBT family.”

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