CI Pride ‘will only take place if safe to do so’ – organisers
CHANNEL Islands Pride is set to take place in Jersey in September, subject to pandemic restrictions, organisers have said.
The pan-island event is hosted on Guernsey and Jersey on alternate years.
Last year’s event in St Peter Port was the only physical Pride march in the British Isles, thanks to the island managing to contain the pandemic.
It is proposed that this year’s event take place in St Helier on Saturday 11 September.
However, Jersey is still under Covid-19 restrictions, with 187 active cases as of yesterday.
Channel Islands Pride 2021 director Christian May said they would be monitoring the situation.
‘We hope that Channel Islands Pride 2021 will build on the huge success our colleagues in Guernsey had last year, and that the celebrations will not only attract members of our pan-island community, but will draw visitors to Jersey to celebrate in our relaxed and beautiful island – supporting the hospitality sector as it recovers from the impact of the pandemic,’ he said.
‘We will, of course, be closely following any government Covid-19 guidance given at the time about public events, and Pride will only go ahead if we are absolutely assured that it can do so safely. We will be submitting full plans to the Bailiff’s Events Panel shortly, to seek their permission and guidance.’
The Bailiff’s Panel for the Control of Public Entertainment was set up in 1987 to monitor the standards of entertainment and attach conditions to events.
Mr May said they had announced the event now, as it was important to give islanders something to look forward to. He was hopeful it would go ahead smoothly.
‘I have confidence in where the numbers are going,’ he said.
‘Jersey is rolling out the vaccinations and that is very positive. They want to vaccinate everyone by September.’
He also noted that Covid-19 numbers had been much more severe in winter, so if the virus was still around in the late summer, the numbers would be much lower and the illness would be under control.
Currently all non-essential travel into Guernsey is banned, meaning islanders can only travel off-island and come back if they have a permit. And people travelling into Jersey from Guernsey have to quarantine for five days. Anyone travelling into Jersey from anywhere else must isolate for 10 days.
The last Pride event in Jersey, in 2019, attracted thousands of people from
across the islands and worldwide.
