PLANS for a 10-day celebration to mark the seventh annual Oxford Pride festival have been unveiled.

The Oxford Pride Festival and Parade, which will be themed on the 1969 New York Stonewall Rebellion – birth of the modern gay rights movement – and flower power, will run between Friday, May 29, and Sunday, June 7.

In February, organisers called for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities in the city to get involved in the celebration and a programme of events is now being put together.

Oxford Pride chairman Mazz Image said: “I am extremely excited.

“It has been great, especially over the last couple of weeks as the momentum has really built up for it.

“The idea for the festival this year was to give an opportunity for different community groups and people within the community in Oxford to come together.”

The Stonewall Rebellion was heralded as the start of the gay rights movement and started with a police raid on a New York gay bar, which led to widespread rioting and protests.

In May, there will be a number of pre-festival fundraising events, including a bubble party at the Coven, in Oxpens Road, on Sunday, May 3, a hippy picnic on Saturday, May 9, at Batwillow Meadow in Magdalen College, and the 1969 Big Gay Ball at Oxford Brookes University on Friday, May 15.

The festival will officially launch on Friday, May 29, at Oxford Castle with the unveiling of the Oxford Pride Mural.

The LGBT societies at both Oxford University and Oxford Brookes University will be holding events, including a Poptarts Flower Power Party at Baby Love Bar on Tuesday, June 2.

There will be a panel debate on the subject Stonewall at 40, and two workshops — one on domestic and sexual abuse in LGBT relationships and one called Let’s Talk About Sex, offering people the chance to explore ways of becoming more at ease with their sexuality.

Oxford Lesbian History Group will discuss the lesbian poet Sappho and St Columba’s Church, in Alfred Street, will host a linedancing event.

The main event will be the parade and party on Saturday, June 6, with people gathering at Ship Street at midday and making their way through the city centre past Cornmarket Street, Bonn Square and Oxford Castle before reaching Oxpens Field, where there will be entertainment, village stalls and music.

Confirmed performers include Angie Brown, Nicolette Street, Liz Oki and the Souls of Prophecy and local talents such as The Rabbit Foot Spasm Band.

Full details are to be published in the next few weeks, with more information available on the website at oxfordpride.org.uk Last year, 150 people took part in the parade, and organisers are hoping to double that number with up to 5,000 expected to party at Oxpens Field.

fbardsley@oxfordmail.co.uk