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Isle Of Wight Festival supports inaugural Pride event on the island

By | Published on Friday 2 June 2017

The Isle Of Wight Festival has announced that it is supporting the first ever Pride event being staged on the island, and that some of the people behind it will be running a stand at the festival this year.

The IOW Festival is particularly keen to show its support for the island’s LGBT community in the wake of a local Conservative MP telling students at Christ The King College in Newport that he wouldn’t be supporting the inaugural Isle Of Wight Pride event because he thought homosexuality is “wrong” and “dangerous to society”. Andrew Turner MP subsequently decided not to run to retain his seat in Parliament at this month’s General Election.

Confirming the IOW Festival was backing the island’s Pride event, festival boss John Giddings said: “When people make comments from a position of responsibility, it can reflect badly on our whole community on the island. My experiences on the island are different and I want to reverse the negative view and, through the festival, let the island community show the rest of the UK that we do embrace diversity here, everybody is welcome on the island irrespective of who they are or who they love and that LoveWins”.

Isle Of Wight Pride will take place in Ryde a week after this year’s IOW Festival, which runs from 8-11 Jun.



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