A West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman said: “The Trust can confirm that it has withdrawn from the Birmingham Pride parade, along with police and fire services, based on legal advice.
“We are very fortunate to have staff from many different backgrounds including the LGBTQ+ community work for us and we remain fully supportive of them and the ‘Proud Network’ that we run within the Service.
“We have informed the organisers as to why we are unable to participate and will keep this decision under review for next and future years. We will also continue to support staff participating in other events that meet the public sector equality duty.”
Northumbria Police was subject to a Judicial Review heard in 2025 for allowing uniformed members of staff to attend Newcastle Pride in 2024. The Court subsequently found the Chief Constable’s decision was unlawful as uniformed participation breached the duty of political impartiality. As a result, based on statements from Birmingham Pride, there is a very strong likelihood that if we were to support uniformed staff members who are identifiable as WMAS staff to attend the parade in a professional capacity, this would be found to be unlawful.
ENDS