Campaigners are taking Grampian Pride to task over its sponsorship by oil majors, including BP and Shell.
The Aberdeen-based Pride is the last in the UK to accept money from fossil fuel companies. Over 45 Prides across the country have stated they will never accept money from the industry on climate grounds.
Grampian Pride sponsorship: oil money out
Campaigners have directed particular criticism towards BP due to its role as a major supplier of fuel to Israel. The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil pipeline supplies almost one third of Israel’s fuel and BP is the operator and largest shareholder. The Israeli Ministry of Energy has also granted gas exploration licenses to BP. Campaigners claim that these are in “occupied Palestinian waters” during a period that has been described as “genocide” by international diplomats.
Eight artists, around one-third of the original Grampian Pride lineup, have withdrawn from performing. This was after Queers for Palestine, Fossil Free Pride and Energy Embargo For Palestine called for a boycott over BP’s sponsorship of the event. Several performers gave statements explaining their withdrawal.
Catriona Molver Entertainment said that:
I knew I couldn’t in good faith put my face and name to something that associates with industries that fund this genocide. I haven’t taken any of this lightly but ultimately this feels like the correct decision for me.
Nushka stated:
I really, really wanted to play Grampian Pride. They were the first pride parade I’d ever been to. It meant the world to me. But it’s 2025. BP and Shell are comfortably complicit in the genocide in Gaza. Their sponsorship of Pride is deeply saddening, and I just can’t do this.
Erin Main said:
Grampian Pride being funded by zionist oil and gas companies has always rubbed me the wrong way but I hoped they would eventually come to their senses, which it seems like won’t be happening until there are consequences for their actions.
Pinkwashing fossil fuel companies
In the run up to Grampian Pride, a ‘Queers Against BP Pride Protest Bloc‘ has been organised as part of the march. An organiser from Fossil Free Pride commented:
BP’s cynical use of Grampian Pride as a pinkwashing opportunity cannot go unchallenged. If the sponsorship will not be dropped, we must oppose their image-cleansing moment loudly. There is no flag big enough to hide the blood on BP’s hands.
An Energy Embargo For Palestine organiser commented:
While BP and Shell executives attempt to launder their images by sponsoring a community event celebrating queer joy and resistance, they continue to fuel and profit from the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people. We are taking a stand against BP and Shell’s sponsorship of Grampian Pride because these sponsorships legitimise BP and Shell’s destructive operations against our communities, under the guise of ‘corporate responsibility’. Grampian Pride must drop BP and Shell as sponsors going forward.
Featured image via screengrab
