Mental Floss

Pride Festivals Are Going Virtual This Year—Here Are 10 Events to Check Out

You can celebrate New York City Pride and other iconic events from your living room this year.
You can celebrate New York City Pride and other iconic events from your living room this year. | Eric Thayer/Getty Images

While the coronavirus pandemic has caused some organizations to cancel their Pride Month events altogether, others are simply moving the party online with livestreams, video performances, and more.

Global Pride, for example, will broadcast a 24-hour livestream featuring performances by Brazil-based Pabllo Vittar—the first drag queen to be nominated for a Grammy—Olivia Newton-John, and Deborah Cox, and speakers ranging from India’s first openly gay royal, Prince Manvendra Singh Gohil, to Sharice Davids, the first Native American member of the LGTBQ+ community to be elected to the U.S. Congress. New York City Pride’s two-hour special, airing on ABC7 and online, has an impressive lineup, too, including Schitt’s Creek’s Dan Levy, Pose’s Billy Porter, Janelle Monáe, and Margaret Cho.

As The Washington Post reports, the Gender Justice League won’t host its usual Trans Pride Seattle parade through the Capitol Hill neighborhood, but it will host a series of workshops, youth activities, and performances online. And this year, you don’t have to live in or around Cincinnati to take part in Cincy Black Pride, whose events appeal to a wide variety of participants; there are DJ sets, an interfaith church service, and a virtual film festival that highlights important works by and about the LGBTQ+ community, including Wanuri Kahiu’s Rafiki (2019), Ya’Ke Smith’s Wolf (2012), and the first two episodes of Dui Jarrod's 2019 series King Ester.

Instead of holding a scheduled event, the Trevor Project—the nation’s leading crisis intervention organization for LGBTQ+ youth—has partnered with Demi Lovato to launch the “Pride Everywhere” campaign, which encourages young people to share photos on social media with the hashtag #PrideEverywhere to foster a sense of togetherness and celebrate diversity within their community. You can even create your own photo with the “Pride Everywhere” filter.

Explore 10 online events below, and learn about the Stonewall Riots that began the Pride movement here.

  1. LA Pride // June 13
  1. Denver Pride // June 20-21
  1. them.’s Out Now Live // June 22
  1. Cincy Black Pride // June 25-28
  1. Trans Pride Seattle // June 26-28
  1. Pride Toronto // June 26-28
  1. Global Pride // June 27
  1. San Francisco Pride // June 27-28
  1. New York City Pride // June 28
  1. The Trevor Project’s Pride Everywhere // Ongoing

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