Inverness businesses show support for LGBTQ+ Pride month as city centre in the Highland capital fills up with rainbows
Businesses in Inverness city centre have once again showed their support for the LGBTQ+ community as Pride Month begins.
Every year, June marks the celebration of LGBTQ+ identities to coincide with the anniversary of the Stonewall riots in New York in 1969, which is generally seen as the start of the modern Pride movement.
The first Pride march took place the following year, and since then has spread all over the world, including to the Highlands.
Inverness first hosted a Pride march in 2018, with further editions taking place in 2019, 2023, 2024 and the next one taking place this Saturday.
With the calendar ticking over into June, then, a number of city centre businesses have implemented rainbow displays or raised Pride flags to show their support for the LGBTQ+ community.
Margaret Laws, deputy manager of Inverness BID, commented: “We’ve had a very positive experience supporting Highland Pride this year.
“We recently launched a Pride Trail on the Love Inverness App, highlighting inclusive businesses across the city centre. The response has been fantastic with around 30 businesses getting in touch asking to be included, which shows the strong local support for Pride.
“We also distributed Pride flags to businesses throughout the city centre, and every one of them was quickly taken up. It’s been brilliant to see so many businesses embracing the spirit of the event and showing visible support.
“We’re really looking forward to Saturday’s celebrations and hope it all goes well. Inverness BID is committed to promoting inclusivity and we’re delighted to support Highland Pride.”
