Manchester Village Pride guarantees stability to unpaid drag performers in landmark Equity agreement
"Signing a union agreement helps rebuild performers's trust after Manchester Pride went into liquidation last year," said Equity’s Karen Lockney
By Aaron Sugg
Manchester Village Pride and entertainment trade union Equity have signed a landmark agreement ahead of the 2026 celebrations, promising stability to drag performers set to take on Manchester’s Gay Village this year.
After the original Manchester Pride organisation begun the process of voluntary liquidation in 2025, following financial instability, Manchester Village Pride was announced to fill their boots.
The four-day celebration is scheduled to take place over the summer bank holiday weekend, from Friday 28 to Monday 31 August. As per an official announcement, Equity has promised stability to all artists.
“We are delighted to sign this landmark union agreement” – Equity’s north west official, Karen Lockney on the Manchester Village Pride agreement
Singing the agreement, the newly formed Community Interest Company has “guaranteed” pay, health and safety standards for drag and burlesque performers working the 2026 festival.
Karen Lockney, Equity’s north west official, said in a statement: “We are delighted to sign this landmark union agreement with Manchester Village Pride.”
“The work our members and the MVP Board of Directors have done to reach this agreement is the first of its kind, leading the way for other Prides to follow. This is at it should be – a celebration of LGBTQ+ rights must be tied to workers’s rights, and this agreement protects performers’s pay, terms and conditions and health and safety.”
“Signing a union agreement helps rebuild performers’s trust” – Lockney on Manchester Pride going bust
She drew attention to Manchester Village Pride community values, adding: “Signing a union agreement helps rebuild performers’s trust after Manchester Pride went into liquidation last year.”
“Manchester has international significance for its championing of LGBTQ+ rights and worker rights, so it is fitting this groundbreaking agreement ties these rights together,” concluded Lockney.
One of the queens who complained following the 2025 saga was RuPaul’s Drag Race UK star Zahirah Zapanta, who alleged that Manchester Pride had not paid her for her performances.
To make sure their the terms and conditions are met throughout this year’s Pride, Equity vowed members of the entertainment union would be on standby at all times – aiming to take the initiative into 2027.
Who is the CEO of Pride in London?
Aside from Manchester, 2026 is seeing major city’s across the UK making positive changes to their Pride approach. Pride in London announced former CEO Christopher Joell-Deshields was terminated from his position earlier this month.
Investigations into Joell-Deshields’s alleged spending misconduct led to his axing in March 2026, following financial misuse and bullying claims.
Rebecca Paisis was appointed interim CEO in September of last year, and continues in the role ahead of July’s Pride in London event.
“We stand for unity, visibility, and equality for all” – Pride in London’s interim CEO Rebecca Paisis on the 2026 event
In a statement addressing Joell-Deshields’s departure, Paisis reaffirmed that the celebration will continue to uphold its promises to stakeholders and volunteers.
She said: “Pride in London exists to champion the LGBTQ+ community of London. We stand for unity, visibility, and equality for all.”
“That purpose is at the heart of everything we do and guides every decision we make. I would like to thank our community and all our stakeholders for their support in recent months, especially our volunteers who make Pride in London possible.”