Belfast Pride is striking a defiant note as it holds its annual parade in the city on Saturday.

Pride’s 2025 theme is “Not Going Back”, which organisers said was chosen because they believe “LGBTQIA+ rights are under attack, here and across the world”.

Stormont’s four executive parties, Sinn Féin, DUP, Alliance and UUP, have been told by Pride organisers they are not welcome at the parade because they supported a ban on puberty blockers for under-18s.

The parade started at Custom House Square at 13:00 BST and is making its way through the city centre before finishing in Victoria Street.

Thousands of people have lined the streets of Belfast waiting to catch a glimpse of this year’s parade.

Organisers say they hope today’s parade shows the trans community that they are supported and that Belfast Pride stands for all.

Around 12,000 people are taking part in the parade. The city is awash with colour and music as the parade makes its way to City Hall.

There was a counter protest organised by church groups at city hall, with a police presence separating it and those attending the parade.

The wider Pride festival has been running since 19 July and finishes on Sunday.

The festival’s co-chairpersons, Neil Millar-McDonagh and Lynn Millar, said said the “Not Going Back” theme sent a clear message.

“As we celebrate how far we’ve come, we stand firm in our commitment to keep moving forward – towards love, equality and justice for everyone in our LGBTQIA+ community,” they said.

First Minister Michelle O’Neill said she was sad her party was not permitted to march in Belfast Pride over the puberty blockers ban.

The Sinn Féin deputy leader said she would still celebrate Pride “in my own way”.

Stormont’s Agriculture Minister Andrew Muir, who is gay, has said he will be taking part in Belfast Pride in a “personal capacity”.

The majority of Pride parades across Northern Ireland have taken a similar decision and asked the executive parties not to attend.

Meanwhile, the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) has said it will not be participating in Belfast Pride 2025 in an official organisational capacity.

It said its staff are welcome to attend voluntarily as part of the HSC (Health & Social Care) LGBT Staff Forum, not in uniform.

The BBC’s Nolan Show understands that HSC bodies received legal counsel that they should not be seen to be participating in a protest against departmental policy.

Lynn Millar said that the rights of the transgender community were “under threat” as a result of the ban.

Speaking to the BBC’s Good Morning Ulster programme, she defended the decision to exclude executive parties from taking part in the parade.

“We’re acting on what our trans community wanted us to do,” Ms Millar said.

“Pride has always been a protest. It started out as riots – we’re not going back to that.

“We celebrate Pride as well, but there will always be a political element when it comes to human rights and I’m not going to apologise for that.”