Grampian Pride parade host steps back over ‘rise in abuse’

An increase in hate incidents is one of the main reasons behind a decision not to host Grampian Pride in Aberdeen next year, says its organiser.

Four Pillars – which provides services to people in the LGBT+ community – said it needed to prioritise its funding to help people who are subjected to abuse.

Grampian Pride has been run since 2018.

Aberdeen could become Scotland’s only major city without a pride parade in 2026 due to the decision.

Four Pillars chief executive Deejay Whittingham said the charity was hearing about hate incidents “all the time”.

He said people were experiencing abuse online and in public on streets.

Mr Whittingham told BBC Scotland: “This is on the increase and we need to tackle that.

“We feel it is important to keep Four Pillars up and running to be here 365 days a year to support our community.

“We see more than 100 people here a month so we need to focus on that.”

He added: “One of the decisions we weighed up was pulling 10,000 people together with the increase of hate crimes, and there being incidents at pride.”

Last year some climate campaigners criticised sponsorship of the event by oil and gas companies.

But Four Pillars said that was not a reason behind its decision.

Mr Whittingham said securing funding for such a large event was also becoming increasingly difficult.

He said it cost £70,000 to run each year while the cost to sustain the charity was about £250,000.

“We need support right now,” he said.

“The lack of funding and support we get elsewhere means we need to re-focus that money.

“Justifying pride and the expense that goes into that, we just cannot do that.”

He added: “The balance is if the event goes ahead through us we are very unlikely to be here after that.”

The charity said it hoped 2026 would be “just a gap” and encouraged other groups to hold their own events in June.

Four Pillars said it would continue to work with other organisations and pull together a programme of events in the absence of the parade.