Manchester Pride celebrated its 25th year in style, with rainbows, glitter and a whole lot of sass.
It is believed almost 3,000 took part in the parade, which is one of the many highlights of one of the largest pride celebrations for the LGBTQ+ community in the UK.
Manchester, which was devastated earlier this year by a terrorist attack, has become a role model city for unity and defiance.
In the aftermath of the attack, the moving vigil, ‘wonderwall’ of messages and One Manchester concert showed the city as a place of strength and love.
Now, the city has once again shown the rest of us how it’s done, in a all-singing all-dancing celebration at Manchester Pride weekend.
Photos of celebrations were shared to social media using the hashtags #ManchesterPride and #BeeProud hashtag, which uses the city’s bee symbol.
Here are seven feel-good moments from the weekend’s antics.
1. When Andy Burnham danced to YMCA with Manchester police.
2. When the police then danced to ‘Oops Upside Your Head’.
3. When Google Maps decorated Manchester streets with rainbow hues.
5. When Canal Street got a rainbow makeover.
6. When these guys stole the show.
7. When people got creative with their glitter.
...and we mean really creative.
Happy pride Manchester, bee proud 🐝🌈
1. Harvey
Harvey Milk was an American politician who became the first openly gay person to be elected to public office in California, when he won a seat on the San Francisco Board of Supervisors.
2. Gilbert
Gilbert Baker, an openly gay artist and civil rights activist, designed the Rainbow Flag in 1978. The flag has since become a prominent symbol to the gay community around the world.
3. Sylvia
Sylvia Rivera was an American gay liberation and transgender activist and self-identified drag queen. She was a founding member of both the Gay Liberation Front and the Gay Activists Alliance.
4. Ellen
Ellen Page is a Canadian actress who came out in 2014, and has since spoken openly about the double standards around LGBT actors in Hollywood, she said: "Now I’m gay, I can’t play a straight person?!”
5. Martina
Martina Navratilova is a Czech and American retired tennis player and coach. In 2005, Tennis magazine selected her as the greatest female tennis player for the years 1965 through 2005. In 2000, she was the recipient of National Equality Award from the USA's largest gay and lesbian activist/lobbying group for her campaigning.
6. Audre
Audre Lorde was a African-American writer, feminist, poet and civil-rights activist. She took part in the National March on Washington for Lesbian and Gay Rights in 1979 and used her theory of difference to establish the fight for gay rights. She quickly became the best known out-of-the-closet Black radical lesbian feminist.
7. Ian
Sir Ian McKellen is an actor and the recipient of six Laurence Olivier Awards, a Tony Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award. He is one of the founding members of Stonewall UK, along with John Miskelly and Michael Cashman.
8. Keegan
Keegan Hirst is Britain's first openly gay rugby player who came out in August 2015.
9. Laverne
Laverne Cox is an American actress on the hit Netflix series 'Orange is the New Black'. Cox has made history as being the first openly transgender person to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy award in an acting role and to be on the cover of Time magazine.
10. Edie
Edie Windsor is an American LGBT rights activist and former technology manager at IBM. She was the lead plaintiff in the Supreme Court of the United States, which successfully overturned Section 3 of the Defence of Marriage Act, considered a landmark legal victory for same-sex marriage.
11. Bayard
Bayard Rustin is best known for his work with Martin Luther King in the civil right's movement, but in the 1970s, he became a public advocate on behalf of gay and lesbian causes as well.
12. Ruby
Ruby Rose is an Australian model, DJ, recording artist, actress and television presenter. She has spoken openly, and extensively, about her sexuality and identifying as gender fluid.
13. Larry
Larry Kramer is an American playwright, author, public health advocate and LGBT rights activist.
