Our Story
Stirling Pride began as an idea in early 2023, a panel was held at the local LGBT Youth Scotland group and the discussion turned to why did Stirling not have a Pride. One of the panelists at the event was one of our co-founders, Scott McMurray, who took forward the idea of a Pride with a number of different organisations which resulted in a public consultation in Autumn 2023 organised between Creative Stirling, University of Stirling and LGBT Youth Scotland.
The response to the public consultation was clear, Stirling wanted a Pride, with over 90% of the nearly 300 respondents wanting a Pride to take place in Forth Valley.
In early 2024, Stirling Pride (then Forth Valley Pride) became a constituted voluntary group, elected a Chair, Sam Reid, Secretary, Scott McMurray and Treasurer, Arielle Decroix, and began to work with Stirling Council, SVE, Police Scotland and many other partners to bring the first ever Pride event to Stirling on the 21st of September 2024.
The first ever Pride was an enormous success with over 7000 people attending near 60 events across the a full week. Our first event was headlined by RuPaul Drag Race UK star Kate Butch and DJ Rebecca Vasmant. It was clear that Stirling wanted the event to continue.
In 2025, we expanded our activities with a Rural Tour which saw near 500 people attend events in communities across the Stirling Council area. The main Pride event took place on 20th September 2025 and was headlined by RuPaul Drag Race UK stars Tia Kofi and Chanel O’Connor and bagpiper Malin Lewis. The event also saw our first ever Pride March with 1100 people marching from Kings Park to King Street making history in the process. Over the course of the day 8000 people attended.
In February 2026, Stirling Pride was registered as a Scottish Incorporated Charity Organisation (SCIO) with the purposes of the advancement of education through the provision of educational programmes and workshops to promote understanding and acceptance of LGBTQ+ across the Stirling Council area, and the promotion of Equality and Diversity through the creation of inclusive spaces and the organising of events that celebrate LGBTQ+ culture, and foster a sense of community across the Stirling Council area.
Stirling Pride 2026 will take place on the 29th of August 2026 in Stirling City Centre and we continue to work in partnership with businesses, organisations and charities across Stirling and the Forth Valley to make the event a success and ensure it becomes a key fixture in the City’s calendar.
Our Trustees
Scott McMurray
Scott is originally from the Isle of Arran, which he describes as a “beautiful place to grow up, but a difficult place to grow up gay”. So when it was announced that Arran Pride was being held, he was pleased to see the LGBTQ+ community be recognised and celebrated openly on the island.
Scott was a co-founder of Stirling Pride and became involved in 2023, after being invited to be part of a panel at the local LGBT Youth Scotland group in Stirling where it was clear that there was a real desire for Stirling to have a Pride of it's own.
He considered it strange that a small island, like Arran, would have it's first pride before one of Scotland's cities. So, he became part of the initial group of people who worked together to make Stirling Pride a reality.
Scott now lives rurally in the Stirling area and works in both Stirling and Callander.
Arielle Decroix
Ariëlle moved to Scotland, from Belgium, initially for a one year Masters, but now works in Stirling. She got involved with Stirling Pride as a way to meet more LGBTQ+ people and to help make Stirling a safe space for queer people.
As a student she was surprised Stirling had no dedicated queer spaces even though it is one of Scotland's seven cities. She hopes that Stirling Pride can be a turning point.
One of her favourite aspects of being part of Stirling Pride, is the testimonials of people that now feel more seen and safer in Stirling. Conversations like that make all the work behind the scenes worth it!
Chris Habbishow
Chris is a 57 year old mum of two with two grandchildren, a late in life lesbian. She is a huge animal lover, and has two older dogs who just love life.
Chris first became involved in Stirling Pride after attending Slay in the Albert Halls in 2025 and saw first hand just how much Stirling Pride was needed and wanted to help.