Pride season isn’t canceled. It’s moving online with ‘Global Pride.’
Pride organizations worldwide are collaborating on a live-streamed 'Global Pride'
Pride organizations around the world are collaborating to offer Global Pride, an online-only event to replace the dozens of Pride celebrations that have been canceled or postponed due to the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic.
Scheduled for June 27, 2020, Global Pride will use digital platforms to “deliver a Pride in which everyone can participate, wherever they are in the world,” according to a press release.
Global Pride will be a live-stream featuring musical performances, speeches, and messages from key human rights activists.
Read more: DC’s Capital Pride Parade and Festival postponed due to coronavirus
It has been organized by InterPride, the European Pride Organisers Association, and national organizations from the U.S., Canada, U.K. and other nations.
“We need community and connection more than ever,” J. Andrew Baker, Co-President of Interpride, said in a statement. “This gives us an opportunity to both connect and celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community’s resilience in the face of this pandemic and the true spirit of Pride.
“Pride 2020 represents a milestone for Pride events, with many honoring the 50th anniversary of their first gatherings and marches, such as New York to the first Gandhinagar Pride this year and we would not let that pass without recognition and celebration.”
Read more: Here are the Prides that are cancelled or postponed
“Annual Pride events in the United States engage and unite 20 million people who gather to celebrate the strength and resilience of the LGBTQIA+ community and to raise awareness for social justice and equal rights of all individuals,” said Ron deHarte, Co-President of the United States Association of Prides. “Through the pain and disruption caused by the novel coronavirus, we will deliver a virtual message of hope, comfort, love and we will have an opportunity to show our appreciation to first responders everywhere.”
Kristine Garina, President of the European Pride Organisers Association and Chair of Baltic Pride in Riga, Latvia, said that the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic “won’t stop us from coming together as a united, strong LGBTQIA+ community to celebrate who we are and what we stand for.”
“Global Pride will show the LGBTQIA+ movement for the very best it can be, showing solidarity at a time when so many of us are mourning and strength when so many of us are feeling isolated and lonely,” Garina said. “Above all, we will show our resilience and determination that Pride will be back bigger and stronger than ever before.”
More details on Global Pride are expected to be announced in the coming weeks, with organizers noting that responding to COVID-19 and the ongoing global crisis it presented was key.
On March 30, the Capital Pride Association announced that the Capital Pride Parade and Festival has been postponed due to concerns regarding coronavirus.
Capital Trans Pride and Asian and Pacific Islander Pride have also been postponed, while DC Black Pride has been canceled and will return in 2021.
Other partnered events including Youth Pride, Silver Pride, and DC Latinx Pride will be “similarly postponed or canceled,” with new dates for all postponed events to be announced in the coming weeks.
“Like our fellow Pride organizers around the world, the Capital Pride Alliance has been monitoring the escalating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and has determined that the safest course of action will be to postpone all planned Capital Pride events in May and June,” Ryan Bos, Executive Director of Capital Pride Alliance, said in a statement.
“Throughout, we have worked and will continue to work closely with our federal, state, and local partners as we make decisions to ensure the safety of the entire community,” Bos said. “We will collaborate with all the agencies and our partner Prides to identify new dates and potentially new ways that our community can come together in Pride.”
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