Organisers of Sunderland Pride hit out at Reform UK for post saying they'd 'pull council support'
In a now deleted post on Facebook, Sunderland Reform wrote "enjoy it while you can".
The organisers of Pride in Sunderland have criticised Reform UK for a now-deleted social media post.
In a post on Facebook in June (29/06), quoting the Sunderland Echo's article on the Pride event, Reform UK Sunderland wrote, "Enjoy it whilst you can, when we take the council next May we will be pulling all support for the event..."
It was deleted shortly afterwards.
Charity Out North East- who organise Pride in Sunderland- say they've had no dialogue with the party and that the post came out of the blue.
Peter Darrant- Chair of the organisation- tells us, "Nobody actually reached out to us and asked us what the benefits of Pride in Sunderland are to the community.
"They didn't even ask us if Sunderland Council supported us.
"It was just this hit-and-run, clickbait kind of post to cause a stir, and now it's been taken down.
"The post went up, I did reach out but nobody came back to me.
"Interestingly, the post went down as soon as we grabbed it."
Out North East organises month-long celebrations in Sunderland, South Tyneside and Gateshead, with a full programme of entertainment, education, exhibitions and family-friendly events.
Peter says, as a result of the post, it's actually brought the community closer together.
"We decided that we'd turn it into a positive, and we put a fund page up saying 'Look, this party doesn't want us to celebrate pride next year, what do you think?'
"Amazingly, the community has raised over £2,000 so far."
Peter went on to tell us that "pride is more important than ever".
"We're living in scary, divisive times- a time when, sadly, minority groups are being attacked.
"Pride is all about bringing people together and saying, 'You support me and I'll support you, and together we can make change.'"
Reform UK only has one elected councillor in the area; Cllr. Paul Donaghy who represents Washington South.
We have approached Reform UK for comment, and will update the article accordingly.
You can donate to Out North East via the link here.