Pride Live, a social advocacy and community engagement organization for the LGBTQ+ community, is presenting its third annual Stonewall Day today, June 26, starting at 12:45 p.m.
The global campaign is designed to elevate awareness and support for the Stonewall legacy and the continuing fight for full LGBTQ+ equality.
In advance of the event, the group released a 50-second clip of President Barack Obama’s message to the LGBTQ community. The full message will run during today’s program. Watch the clip below:
The livestream will feature performances and messages from an impressive lineup of celebrities and activists, including Taylor Swift, Ellen DeGeneres, Cynthia Erivo, Kesha, Hayley Kiyoko, Demi Lovato, Katy Perry, Christian Siriano, George Takei, Donatella Versace, Lilly Wachowski, Sir Richard Branson, Jonny Beauchamp, Valentina Sampaio, Dustin Lance Black, Blossom C. Brown, Chelsea Clinton, Luke Evans, Valerie Jarrett, Stella Maxwell, Imara Jones, Bethany C. Meyers, Maisie Richardson-Sellers, Justin Tranter, Josephine Skriver, Kellen Stancil, Ryan Jamaal Swain, Nico Tortorella, Alok Vaid-Menon, Chely Wright, Conchita WURST, and Stonewall Day National Chair, trans model and advocate Geena Rocero.
“COVID-19, and the recent events that have placed a national and global spotlight on the need for fair and equal treatment for all people, has impacted so many around the world and the LGBTQ+ community has not been immune,” said Pride Live Board President Dr. Yvette C. Burton. “This has resulted in vital and life-saving LGBTQ+ organizations having to severely amend their budgets and programs. Our hopes are Stonewall Day can assist our beneficiaries in continuing their work and service to the community.”
“At WarnerMedia, we believe in the power of telling stories that accurately reflect the world that we live in,” said Dennis Williams, Senior Vice President, Corporate Social Responsibility at WarnerMedia, the event’s lead presenting partner, along with GLAAD and NASDAQ. “Now, more than ever, we recognize the significance of standing in solidarity with the LGBTQ+ community, as well as the deep connection between the rebellion that started at Stonewall in 1969 connected to LGBTQ+ justice and police brutality, and the movement we see on the streets today as people demand an end to repeated brutality and systemic oppression.”
Tune into the event today from 12:45 p.m. to 3 p.m. ET on Logo’s YouTube and Facebook pages.
Uber Eats has changed a policy that required drivers to display their legal name in its app, after being accused of forcing trans drivers to out themselves to customers.
Laine Repic, an Uber Eats driver in Kansas, drafted the help of the ACLU of Kansas after he started to face harassment from some customers who realized that he is a transgender man.
Uber Eats required Repic to display his legal name, which essentially outed him to customers given it didn't match his gender identity. He said that had resulted in "demeaning comments" and decreased tips.
Repic told the Associated Press that it was "scary" to drive around worrying that he could face discrimination while delivering orders.
Last Friday, during a White House reception celebrating Pride Month, President Joe Biden touted his administration's various efforts to achieve LGBTQ equality, while calling on Congress to adopt full federal nondiscrimination protections for LGBTQ people.
Joined by Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg, who is openly gay and the first out LGBTQ cabinet secretary to be confirmed by the Senate, Biden declared that the Pride Month reception "makes a simple, strong statement: Pride is back at the White House."
The president said the month-long celebration, which commemorates the anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, is about "being able to love yourself, love whoever you love, and love this country enough to make it more fair and more free and more just."
“Winning this award, and this organization existing at all, is a huge support to myself and other LGBTQ students and athletes,” says 18-year-old Otto Kammer, one of the recipients of this year’s Team DC Scholarships. “For some, it can be the last push of support they need to come out. For others, it can be an encouraging sign to keep being out and proud in our activities.”
Kammer and eight of his LGBTQ contemporaries will be fêted at an in-person, invite-only event on Thursday, July 15, at the Hilton Washington D.C. National Mall hotel. There, the DMV-area student-athletes will each receive $2,000 from Team DC, an umbrella organization for LGBTQ sports leagues in the D.C. area. The scholarship funds are designed to help students defray some of the costs of higher education while continuing to participate in competitive or intramural sports.
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