National Student Pride to bow out after 21 years

National Student Pride, the UK’s longest‑running LGBTQ+ student festival, will bow out after 21 years, organisers have confirmed - marking the end of a landmark event that has shaped queer student life since 2005. The announcement follows a dramatic and sustained fall in corporate sponsorship, with income dropping by around two‑thirds compared with two years ago, "largely due to widespread cuts to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) budgets" across employers. 

Founded as a grassroots response to homophobia on university campuses, National Student Pride grew into a major fixture of the UK Pride calendar. Over two decades it has welcomed tens of thousands of young LGBTQ+ people, offering community, visibility and access to inclusive employers - and becoming a vital platform for queer youth activism. Throughout its history, the festival has hosted high‑profile speakers including Sir Ian McKellen, Joanna Lumley, Joe Lycett and Nick Grimshaw, and has consistently tackled pressing LGBTQ+ issues ranging from homelessness and mental health to trans rights and inclusive sex education.

Organisers say the festival’s model - which relies heavily on revenue from its diversity careers fair to keep the daytime events free - has become impossible to sustain amid falling employer participation. The shift reflects wider global “DEI rollbacks”, with LGBTQ+ initiatives increasingly deprioritised during economic uncertainty. Despite this, the team stresses that the festival’s mission of meeting prejudice with openness, conversation and community has remained unchanged since its founding. 

This weekend’s event in London will therefore be the final edition in its current form. The 2026 programme will proceed as planned, featuring a packed daytime festival at the University of Westminster with panels including Trans 2030 chaired by author Juno Dawson, discussions on queer relationships hosted by Natasha Devon, the UK’s largest LGBTQ+ inclusive careers fair, a community marketplace, a music stage, therapy puppies and a Dragstravaganza finale with performers from The Traitors. Evening celebrations at G‑A‑Y Heaven and an upskilling afternoon at the London School of Economics will also go ahead.

One of the original founders and a current trustee, Tom Guy, said the group was established as a "direct response" to a "homophobic and deeply divisive" talk at Oxford Brookes University which was hosted by its Christian Union.

"We chose to respond by creating something constructive.

"Our very first event intentionally centred on a welcoming and inclusive panel, which included both a vicar and a rabbi, to show that faith, identity and LGBTQ+ lives do not have to be in conflict."

He added: "That founding principle - meeting prejudice with openness and conversation has shaped National Student Pride for the past 21 years."