Liverpool FC will become the first Premier League club to be officially represented in a lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) event in Britain when a banner featuring its crest is carried by club staff and members of the women's team at next month's Liverpool Pride.
Ian Ayre, Liverpool's managing director, said the club's involvement underlines its determination to rid football of homophobia. "We continue to demonstrate our commitment to ensuring that equality and principles of inclusion are embedded into all areas of Liverpool Football Club and, for many years, we have taken positive steps to promote our stance against homophobia both on and off the pitch," he said.
"The event is … an excellent platform to attract local communities and people from across the country to experience the diverse culture of our fantastic city."
Liverpool FC will also have a stall at the festival's Waterfront site on 4 August and will provide signed merchandise for fund-raising auctions. The club has already worked with Liverpool Pride in establishing the Football v Homophobia tournament, which was hosted at the club's academy for the first time earlier this year. The club also supports the Justin Campaign, which campaigns against homophobia both at grassroots level and in the professional game.
Liverpool Pride has offered other football clubs and their supporters the opportunity to join the march, whether they are professional or pub league outfits. Supporters not wishing to march behind a Liverpool FC banner can register as a separate club and bring their own banners.
Zoran Blackie, the chair of Liverpool Pride, said: "Liverpool Football Club have been going through huge changes, and one of them is to work closely with all their supporters – and they've showed that before by hosting our Football v Homophobia tournament."
Liverpool Pride takes place at the city's Pier Head and throughout the Stanley Street quarter. The festival's Nautical but Nice theme this year, chosen in a ballot by the local LGBT, takes its lead from Liverpool's commemoration of the 100-year anniversary of the sinking of the Titanic, while also celebrating the city's rich maritime history. More than 40,000 people were estimated to have taken part in the 2011 event which is the country's biggest free-of-charge gay pride festival outside London.
