Global Pride 2020-Virtual and Important

To date, over 400 gay pride events have been cancelled for 2020. These cancellations are understandable in view of COVID-19. Nevertheless,  celebrating pride remains important and relevant. The good news is that plans are underway for a virtual Global Pride. This reimagined pride event is scheduled for Saturday June 27th.  The organizers are the European Pride Organizers Association (EPOA) and InterPride which is an consortium of local pride organizations in the U.S. and overseas.

Plan

The plan is to have a rolling 24-hour on line “Global Pride” event. It will run on June 27th starting at 12:01 that day. Ron de Harte, a member of the InterPride organizing committee says that the plan is to steam on line events that “will peak in time zones around the world”. The regional pride organizations would be given a time slot and directly involved in the programming.  June 27th was selected because it is the anniversary of the Stonewall riots. They plan to have musical performances, speeches and other pride-related content. No performers or participants have been announced yet. It is not clear yet what digital platform(s) will be streaming the event. The organizers hope to have it available on multiple platforms.

Fundraising

The Global Pride Planning Committee is working on including a fundraising component to the event. This is extremely important in a year where many LGBT organizations are struggling when being unable to hold in person fundraising events.

Organizer Quotes/Sentiments

The organizers realize how important and relevant a global pride event is during the current global pandemic. Kristine Garina on behalf of the European Pride Organizers Association stated: “Global Pride will show the LGBTQIA+ movement for the very best it can be, showing a solidarity at a time when so many of us are mourning, and strength when so many of us are feeling isolated and lonely”.

The sentiment is that having a virtual pride may disappoint some since no virtual event can compare to a live pride event such as last year’s World Pride in NYC which over 2.5 million people attended. However, this virtual event promises something different. It means that LGBTQIA people in conservative and intolerant countries can still participate and in some cases, this program may be their first exposure to the LGBTQIA+ community.

We will be updating this article as more information becomes available.

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