Oxford Pride

Oxford Pride is a week of events in Oxford, Mississippi, that ends with a parade around the Courthouse Square. It began in 2016 when a University of Mississippi student worked with the Sarah Isom Center to organize the first parade. Churches, nonprofits and local businesses host events during the week, and all are open to the community.

Oxford Pride started in 2016, when Matt Kessler, a University of Mississippi graduate student, brought the idea for a Pride parade, along with a city permit, to the Sarah Isom Center. Six weeks later the center launched Oxford's first Pride parade, and allies turned out in large numbers. The next year the event expanded with more partners and brought Big Freedia and drag performers from Pulse Nightclub in Orlando to town. In the fall of 2025, Out in Education (ONE) North Mississippi was formed to organize Oxford Pride and support queer students in the region's public schools and colleges.

The event was created to give LGBTQIA+ students, faculty, staff and allies a visible, inclusive community event during the school year, combining social and academic programming. Organizers stress that Oxford Pride promotes no ideology; it simply recognizes queer Mississippians as citizens and neighbors with the same rights to assembly and expression as anyone else. A festival on Union Plaza now fills the time between the parade and the evening drag show.

The parade begins and ends in the Oxford-University Depot parking lot below the Ford Center. Marchers gather an hour before the 2 p.m. start, and the route runs up University Avenue, left on Lamar Boulevard, around the Courthouse Square, down Jackson Avenue and back to the Depot. Anyone can march or cheer from the route. The most recent theme was Love Yourself.

Pride events celebrate LGBTQ+ people and mark the Stonewall uprising of June 1969. Most combine a parade or march with a festival of performers, community groups, vendors and food.

Oxford Pride has included parade, interfaith gathering, picnic and drag show.

Oxford Pride was first held in 2016.

The organizer has not announced dates for 2027 yet. In 2026 it was held April 26 to May 2, 2026. It usually falls late April to early May, ending with a Saturday parade.