We at Pride in Surrey are deeply shocked and saddened by the recent revelations concerning our co-founder and a volunteer. Their actions are utterly appalling and in complete opposition to everything our organisation stands for. First and foremost, we want to be absolutely clear: these individuals do not represent the values of Pride in Surrey, nor do they reflect the wider LGBTQ+ community. One individual's criminal actions should never be used to tarnish an entire movement – especially not one so relentlessly focused on equality, safety, and support. For years, Pride in Surrey has stood as a literal lifeline for many LGBTQ+ people across the region – providing connection, education, and advocacy. That work continues. Our team of dedicated volunteers and community partners remains steadfast in our mission to celebrate diversity and ensure a safe and welcoming environment for all. In recent days, we have witnessed an alarming increase in hateful rhetoric directed not only at our organisation but at LGBTQ+ people more broadly. Many of these attacks are being pushed by anti-LGBTQ+ groups who are using this news to further an agenda rooted in fear, misinformation and hatred of our community. These claims are baseless, harmful, and entirely unsupported by evidence. It is especially disappointing that Surrey County Council has chosen to withdraw support from Pride in Surrey without engaging with us directly or producing any evidence whatsoever to support their view. Surrey Police have made it explicitly clear that there are no concerns with our organisation’s structure, people, or safeguarding policies. We operate with robust procedures in place and remain fully committed to the highest standards of safety, transparency, and accountability. To further reassure our community, stakeholders, and the public, we will be commissioning an independent review of our current safeguarding policies and systems. This review will be led by external professionals and its findings will be published in full once complete. We believe in accountability and continuous improvement, and we welcome any opportunity to demonstrate that we take our responsibilities very seriously and work tirelessly to deserve the trust placed in us. We are also going to introduced a publicly accessible complaints procedure on our website. Enabling our event visitors and service users to provide feedback and comments on our events, partners, suppliers and our volunteers. Despite the challenges, our community will come together again at Pride in Surrey in Guildford on 6 September - a celebration of resilience, visibility, and most of all, Pride. We invite everyone to join us in standing united against hate and in support of the vibrant and diverse LGBTQ+ community we all serve. Pride in Surrey has always been about creating a safe and supportive space, and we will not allow the actions of a few to derail the work and progress of many. Our community deserves better - and we will ensure they get it. We thank those who continue to support us. Our commitment to you remains unwavering. Pride in Surrey

Pride in Surrey are disappointed by Surrey County Council’s decision to not attend Pride in Surrey 2025 in Guildford. Since 2019, Surrey County Council (SCC) have had a presence at every Pride in Surrey event, in the form of an outreach stand to promote the council’s departments and services. This decision has not come as a surprise to us, in previous years SCC has scaled back on attending Pride. We worry that this decision may be part of a general movement within SCC to withdraw support and potential funding from Surrey’s LGBTQ+ community, a sentiment which many in our community have shared with us over recent years. At a time where LGBTQ+ organisations across the country are facing increased attacks, particularly against our trans community, this trend is troubling. Today, we have been inundated by emails and messages of support from staff within SCC, disappointed in their organisation’s decision. We are saddened for staff at SCC, as they have always been able to march in our parade and enjoy the day on behalf of SCC. We want to assure SCC staff that they are still welcome to attend and enjoy the day if they wish. In an email sent today to Pride in Surrey, SCC claim that Pride in Surrey is not representative of the whole LGBTQ+ community. This something we reject completely, and also something they have provided no evidence for. Not only do our members reflect every area of our LGBTQ+ community, including female and trans representation, we also work tirelessly year round to celebrate and represent everyone within our community. We pride ourselves on creating a welcoming event that brings together Surrey's LGBTQ+ community. Additionally, we do not believe it is the place of councils to tell queer organisations whether they are representative or not, and believe this sets a worrying precedent. To confirm, there has been no allocated funding to Pride this year from SCC. We haven't applied for any, we haven't asked for any. In the same way, there has been no event plans to include Surrey County Council this year at Pride. Our plans for Pride in Surrey 2025 remain unchanged. Date: 16/07/2025