Celebrating older people in the LGBT+ community and helping to tackle issues of loneliness and isolation.

Now in its second year, Silver Pride is a unique online festival designed to connect with and celebrate older LGBT+ people.

Over three days of summer, Silver Pride presents a smorgasbord of guests, sessions and events. There are interviews: Broadway and Hollywood star Alan Cumming is our “opening gala” guest; our Big Saturday Interview is with actress Michelle Hardwick, currently appearing in Emmerdale; and actor and writer Simon Callow will be in conversation with theatre director Robert Hastie.

Michelle Hardwick said: “I’m thrilled to be part of such an exciting line-up for Silver Pride 2021. Times have been tough for everyone lately and events like Silver Pride are the perfect antidote to those times. I can’t think of a better way to spend a summer weekend!”

Running July 30 and 31 & August 1, Silver Pride includes panel discussions, a cookalong and a singalong. Straight Jacket author Matthew Todd and novelist Matt Cain will discuss their work, and there will even be a lock-in as writers Paul Flynn and Jeremy Atherton-Lindiscuss the pivotal place of the pub in the gay experience.

The programme also features specially commissioned films: Drag Queen Story Hours, This is Me and, a sneak preview of Maisie, Lee Cooper’s documentary about Britain’s oldest drag artiste.

With this year’s theme ‘everyday heroes’, Silver Pride is a celebration of the heroism that LGBT+ people show in order just to live their authentic lives. It is also a commemoration of those who went before us – those who marched and fought and campaigned and died for the freedoms we enjoy today.