Reading Pride, which is to be held on 4th September 2010 have just announced Agnes as their headline act. Best known for her “Release Me” single which charted at number three in the UK and ended up in the top ten across Europe, Agnes will be performing at the main Pride event at Kings Meadow which will also see the traditional market stall section as well as a picnic area for families sponsored by Alternative Families Show 2010.

Other music entertainment includes Scooch, who managed to stop us finishing last in the Eurovision Song Contest back in 2007 (we’ll ignore that we came 23rd out of 24), who will perform their Glee hit show as well as Drag with No Name, Dave Lynn, The Boy George Experience and many many more.

Free for all to attend thanks to sponsorship from Unison, The NHS (Royal Berkshire Foundation Hospital) Reading Borough Council and Out in the City and Penta Hotels, the event starts at the Civic Centre at 11.30am with the Reading Pride Parade before ending up at Kings Meadow park at 12pm.

You can find out more about the event at the official Reading Pride website.

The current chair of the Brighton Pride, Yvonne Barker, has announced that she is stepping down from her position as well as resigning from the board of trustees.

Both will occur with immediate effect, with a statement seen by the Pink News stating that Barker accepted responsibility for the breakdown in relations between Brighton Pride and local businesses and community groups, but says that she stood by the position of the board that the event needs to refocus on what the LGBT community needs.

Announcing earlier this year that there was a £50,000 budget deficit, Brighton Pride has been struggling with both financial and organisation issues with Barker acting to accuse some “aggressive individuals” of trying to profit from the event.

Believing there is a need for a more “open and transparent” process concerning accounting and tendering, Barker also said the tactics adopted by a small number of business and press representatives in the press and online was shameful and that they were not the kind of people to be playing a part in the event, something that she hopes that by the 2010 Pride putting the focus back on the LGBT community and away from commercial gains will occur.

Robert Clothier, the current Vice Chair will now stand in as the acting chair.

Photo by Dominic’s pics.