Leeds Pride co-founder Liaqat Ali - 'Times have changed so much since pride started'

That was 14 years ago and since then the organisation - which champions the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community and those connected to it - has grown rapidly, from just 300 people attending the first pride event to the 55,000 who took part last year.

Mr Ali, 41, said: “We set up Leeds Pride because Leeds was one of the major cities that didn’t have a pride event. We decided that as a city we should be having a pride event and a lot of the community groups got together to say that we would like to have a pride event.

“The times have changed so much since pride started. We didn’t have civil partnership, never mind marriage.”

Ali is now a director of the company after he co-founded it in 2005.

He said: “I was part of the group that started Leeds Pride 14 years ago, we had to start up a limited company and I’m a director of that company.”

Not only has Mr Ali and the Leeds Pride organisation helped raise awareness of the pride community, there are also economic benefits with the day of the event bringing in roughly £4m into the Leeds economy.

Mr Ali said in the last few years they had seen huge growth in the number of companies and organisations that have got involved in the parade, with the impact on the city being huge.

“In the last three or four years the parades have gone from 50 to 60 to 80 to 120 and this year we’ve got 135 companies and organisations in the parade,” he said.

He said Leeds Pride continues to be a community focused group with pride events continuing to be free despite other cities charging.

“Our goal is we want to be a free pride event," Mr Ali said. "We don’t follow the model of other pride events, for example Manchester or Brighton might have the Ariana Grandes or Kylie Minogues performing but they are charging. So they are more of a concert and we are more of a community event.”