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It is June once again and it is time to celebrate Global LGBTQ Pride Month. There is an awry twist to the rainbow this year, but people are trying to use technology as a way to come together and blend in a tapestry with one another globally.
This author attended the LGTBQ Parade in Mexico City last year, and there were over a million people in the streets.
For the year 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, substituting for parades are gatherings and online parties through Zoom that are being held all over the world.
With nearly 500 Pride festivals halted around the world, 2020 marks the first time the LGBTQ+ community will not hold any physical gatherings. Although, there will be some live events in certain countries like Denmark that will hold limited gatherings
In January, America’s major cities were gearing up for record-setting crowds at events set to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the first pride marches. The COVID-19 pandemic has invariably pushed communities, big and small, to move to online gatherings.
There is even a Global Pride event where instead of people gathering in one venue, in one city, they are coming together from all corners of the world from their living rooms. This means that the closeted teen from the American Evangelical rural U.S. or a Ugandan persecuted for being gay in his native country can be part of the festivities.
Global Pride is a 24-hour stream of speeches and performances via hundreds of different pride gatherings happening around the world. The live video will cycle through celebrations from Sydney, Tel Aviv, and Rio de Janeiro, as well as countries across Asia and Africa.
“Several Pride events have been cancelled or postponed in India, where I am, as well as worldwide, and people are very downhearted,” explains InterPride’s Rahul Upadhyay, one of Global Pride’s organizers. “This is why it’s important to have virtual Prides with the same zeal and enthusiasm as we otherwise would have — to spread the message that this pandemic cannot take away our spirit of organising.”
The Global Pride Zoom Livestream will headline world leaders, royalty, pop stars, and drag queens. The first worldwide LGBTQ+ event is making the Black Lives Matter movement the centerpiece of the celebration and establishing it as a global organization. Global Pride is finding a way to be more unifying during the pandemic.
American musician Todrick Hall will host Global Pride, which is expected to reach up to 300 million viewers.
Participants include Joseph R. Biden Jr., the presumptive Democratic nominee for president; the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi; Justin Trudeau, the Canadian prime minister; Leo Varadkar, the Irish prime minister; Carlos Alvarado Quesada, president of Costa Rica where same-sex marriage was legalized in May; Erna Solberg, prime minister of Norway; Xavier Bettel, prime minister of Luxembourg; Crown Princess Mary of Denmark; and Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil of India.
By Alexander Campbell
Edited by Jeanette Vietti
Sources:
The Washington Post: 10 Pride events you can attend from home, from underground Zoom parties to a virtual Pride Mobile
Vogue: Pride’s New Place – Vogue’s Essential Guide To Celebrations Taking Place Around The World
USA Today: Internet ‘a lifeline’ for the LGBTQ community: Why the spirit of Pride Month will prevail as events move online
Image by Neal Jennings Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons – Creative Commons License