Market steps prepped for Pride

Thursday 01 September 2022

The colours of the rainbow have been painted on St Peter Port's Market Steps ahead of this weekend's Pride events, with families already gathering for photos as they pass by.

Saturday marks the date of Guernsey's march from Candie Gardens to the Market, with thousands of people expected to attend.

Liberate, which organises Channel Islands Pride, said they are expecting LGBTQ+ members and their allies to join in across the festivities.

Pictured: CI Pride at Guernsey's Market in 2020. 

Ahead of the march, and associated events, the steps at Market Square have been painted, along with a postbox at the base of the steps.

CEO of Liberate in Guernsey Ellie Jones was involved in the painting on Wednesday, and she said:

“This year’s CI Pride is going to be huge! It’s the 50th anniversary of the first marches in the UK so we are going all out. Pride is a celebration of people coming together in love and friendship, to show how far LGBTQ+ rights have come, and importantly, how there's still work to be done.

“While we love a party and being colourful, we should remember the important message behind Pride which is to promote acceptance, equality, education about our history and to raise awareness of issues affecting the LGBTQ+ community so that we can make positive changes. We should all be proud of who we are no matter who we love.”

Admiring the Market steps today were Kirsty Bougourd, Emma Bailey, Conor Rowe and Sienna Bailey.

Conor explained that Kirsty is a member of the LGBT community, but she said she is unable to attend CI Pride this weekend.

"Unfortunately I won't be as I'm in London, but I know some people that will be coming. I went the last time it was over here as well. It's just nice to have this one day of the year where everyone comes together and just celebrates. And unfortunately it is still needed, the heterosexual community don't ever have to worry about anything and unfortunately my community do. So, no matter what it is needed and some people may not like it but it is what it is."

Emma agreed that Pride events are still vital.

"Guernsey needs to be more forward thinking and this proves we're coming up to date with the rest of the world."

Pictured: The Market Steps are all painted for Pride.

All four agreed they love the vibrantly coloured steps.

Kirsty said: "I love it when they do this", while Emma likened it to the use of the rainbow during the Covid pandemic.

"It celebrates us coming out of covid as well, which we did as a community, and we celebrated as a team. Hopefully we can celebrate this as a team too!"

Pictured top (l-r): Emma Bailey, Siena Bailey, Conor Rowe and Kirsty Bougourd.