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# National Student Pride to bow out after 21 years
- URL: https://www.scenemag.co.uk/national-student-pride-to-bow-out-after-21-years/
- Published: 2026-02-13T13:14:33.000Z
- Updated: 2026-02-13T13:14:33.000Z
- Author: Graham Robson
- Tags: Pride

**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. 

![](https://www.scenemag.co.uk/content/images/2026/02/View_of_National_Student_Pride_banners_being_flown_in_the_Pride_London_parade_-3_-_geograph.org.uk_-_5834409.jpg)

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."