Durban joined numerous cities around the world in marking Pride this weekend—celebrating LGBTIQ+ identities and advocating for equality and justice.
Scores of members of the city’s LGBTIQ+ community and allies turned out for the 14th annual Durban Pride march and festivities on Saturday.
The day also commemorated the anniversary of the historic Stonewall Riots, which began on 28 June 1969 in New York City and are widely recognised as the spark that ignited the global Pride movement.
Colour, Community and a Call for Services
Participants gathered at Gugu Dlamini Park in central Durban before embarking on a vibrant parade through the streets.
Marchers sang and chanted, holding rainbow flags and placards calling for justice, visibility, and inclusion and an end to gender-based violence. They also drew attention to the urgent need for HIV and sexual health services, following deep funding cuts by the US government to programmes serving the LGBTIQ+ community.
A transgender member of the community told Newzroom Afrika that their community had been deeply impacted. “Most of the funding that was helping trans people to affirm themselves – getting hormones and getting psychosocial [support] has been taken and revoked and there is nowhere to go for trans people.”
After returning to the park, participants heard from various speakers and were treated to performances by entertainers. Community organisations, vendors, and service providers engaged with attendees at stalls set up around the venue.
“Pride is just not about us dancing and celebrating. Pride is about advocacy, it’s about love, it’s about us unifying for common goals and spreading love,” activist Aluta Humbane told the crowd.
They explained that the theme for this year’s Durban Pride, #sutainLGBTIrights, was especially apt in the context in which the community finds itself.
“We all know what has been happening throughout the world, where there’s a lot of regression as it relates to LGBTI rights,” said Humbane. “We’ve seen what Trump has done, to go as far as revoking the funding that was funding our existence – for most of the people who are still marginalised and can’t even afford to go to a clinic to get ARVs or PrEP.”
MEC for Health Shows Support
KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC, Nomagugu Simelane, attended the event wearing a rainbow scarf, interacting with Pride-goers and visiting several vendor and exhibitor stalls.
The MEC affirmed her commitment to ensuring that LGBTIQ+ individuals have access to appropriate and sensitised services within the public healthcare system while acknowledging that progress remains to be made.
“Being part of Pride, for me, is doing exactly that. You can’t cater for a sector when you don’t know how it operates, and how its heart beats,” she said.
“Every time you become part of Pride, you learn something new. And as government, it’s our duty to keep learning, keep listening, and keep improving.”
The Durban Pride festivities continued late into the night with several after-parties hosted across the city.
It was a busy Pride weekend globally, with events also taking place in cities including Chicago, Dublin, New York City, Milan, Munich, San Francisco, and Toronto.
In Hungary, around 200,000 people congregated for the largest-ever Budapest Pride in defiance of the government’s ban on Pride events.
Watch: The pride parade in the Durban CBD. Video by Mbali Dlungwana pic.twitter.com/mmAhEVrIhs
— Mbali Dlungwana (@mbalidlungwana) June 28, 2025
📸 Durban Pride, yesterday.
— Suntosh Pillay (@suntoshpillay) June 30, 2024
ICYMI we closed off the final weekend of youth month at a pride parade in Durban. The festival was cohosted by multiple stakeholders including our Generation Gender Champions. Great colour and vibrancy was unapologetically a part of the day. #wearyoursupport #GenerationgenderRSA… pic.twitter.com/dDkgvm1UgH
— ACTIVATE! Change Drivers (@ActivateZA) June 29, 2025
