A guide to LGBTQ Pride
There’s no getting around the fact, 2020 messed up a whole lot of stuff – including LGBTQ Pride celebrations. While some events have been able to be held, and there’s been lots of online options, 2021 has also been fairly problematic for events of all shapes and sizes.
In the US, June is officially Pride Month, but Pride celebrations are normally happening throughout the year in different parts of the world.
Pride celebrations around the world
Canada
- Toronto held a virtual event in June 2021. Hopefully we’ll be back to an in-person event in 2022.
United States
- In previous years, this event has been held in April. But in 2021, they’re looking at dates in September. 10-19 September is what they’re planning.
- They held a virtual celebration in May, hopefully they’ll be back to full force in 2022.
- Events were held during June of 2021 – some in-person and some online.
- They held their Pride celebrations in early June of 2021. They’ve announced 2022 dates as being 1-5 June.
- Some events were held during June 2021.
- They held an online celebration on 27 June 2021.
- They held a series of events throughout the month of June 2021.
- They’re planning a Pride parade in October.
- They’re holding events throughout July.
South America
- They held a virtual event in early June.
UK
- Organisers have announced that they’re looking at 11 September for London’s Pride celebrations. The format of the event is still being developed.
- An online festival was held in early July 2021.
- Organisers have announced that there will be no celebrations in 2021, with the event to return in 2022.
- There doesn’t appear to have been any updates for a while – likely that everything is being held over until 2021.
- Organisers have confirmed it will be a virtual Pride in 2021, 24 July is the date.
- The event had been planned for 6-8 August, but organisers have announced that they have had to cancel the 2021 celebrations due to continuing uncertainty about Covid-19 and challenges around event insurance.
- There’s likely to be some smaller community events during the summer, but we’ll have to wait until 2022 before we (hopefully) get back to a big Pride in Brighton.
- Organisers have confirmed that their 2021 celebrations will be taking place 10 July.
- They’re planning an event at the end of August. Dates are 27-30 August.
- Organisers have announced that they’re looking at 25-26 September for their 2021 Pride event.
Europe
- No Pride in 2021, holding things over until 2022.
- They held an event in June 2021.
- Details of any 2021 events have not yet been announced.
- They’re looking at a series of events throughout the summer as their 2021 Pride celebrations.
- This was planned for June but they have cancelled and will aim to bring back the event in 2022.
- There doesn’t appear to have been an update recently. It’s not clear if they will hold any events in 2021.
- Small events were held in late June 2021.
- Low-key events were held in early July 2021.
- Normally held in early July each year, but there hasn’t been any update for a while. Looks unlikely that they’ll attempt to hold anything in 2021.
- Organisers have announced plans for 2021 celebrations to be held on 24 July, although this is likely to be a fairly low-key event.
- This is a spectacular Pride event because of the parade of boats on the city’s canal.
- Dates for 2021 have been confirmed. The 2021 boat parade will be on 7 August.
- Dates for 2021 have been confirmed – the Pride festival will run from 12-22 August. Copenhagen will be hosting World Pride as well as the Eurogames. Restrictions will be in place but organisers have confirmed that they are able to proceed with some activities.
- Organisers have confirmed that the 2021 event will be going ahead – dates are 3-9 September.
- There’s a summer Pride that’s normally held in May. It wasn’t possible to hold this in 2021, but organisers hope to return in 2022.
- Winter Pride in Maspalomas is scheduled for 5-14 November.
Asia
- 2021 celebrations were held in April. Dates for 2022 have not yet been announced.
- Normally held at the end of October, dates for 2021 have not yet been confirmed.
Africa
- This event is normally held in February, but that wasn’t possible in 2021. It’s not clear if they are planning to hold anything during 2021 or if they’ll hold it over until 2022.
Australia
- Sydney successfully held their 2021 Mardi Gras celebrations in March.
- Dates for 2022 have not yet been confirmed.
- Melbourne’s Midsumma festival is normally held in January, but in 2021 the event was held in early May.
- Organisers have announced that their dates for 2022 will be 23 Jan – 13 Feb.
- Brisbane’s Pride celebrations are normally in September, but in 2021 their events will be in October.
Why is June recognised as Pride Month?
Across the United States – and in many other parts of the world – the month of June is officially recognised as a time to celebrate LGBTQ Pride.
The month of June is significant because the Stonewall riots took place at the end of June in 1969.
Brenda Howard is credited with being one of the main driving forces in coordinating the first LGBTQ Pride march. Howard is also credited with the idea for a week-long series of events around Pride Day. Additionally, Howard – along with fellow activists Robert Martin and Craig Schoonmaker – is credited with popularising the word Pride to describe these events.
Throughout the month of June, towns and cities across the US and around the world hold LGBTQ Pride celebrations.
Why were the Stonewall riots a big deal?
The Stonewall riots of 28 June 1969 weren’t the first protests or confrontations between police and the LGBTQ community, but they’ve become symbolic of the growing consciousness and confidence that paved the way for the fight for equality and freedom from discrimination.
What triggered the Stonewall riots was a police raid on the Stonewall Inn. In the heart of Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, the Stonewall Inn was a mafia-run bar that was a hub for the neighbourhood’s marginalised queer community.
In the late 60s, police raids on bars like the Stonewall Inn were commonplace – part of the continuing harassment and victimisation that LGBTQ people were experiencing at that time. The raid on the Stonewall Inn on 28 June 1969 sparked that sense of frustration into violent protests – protests that lasted six days and involved thousands of people. Perhaps most importantly, the riots received widespread media coverage.
Prior to the Stonewall riots, the push for LGBTQ equality was led by ‘homophile’ advocates – organisations such as the Mattachine Society. The Mattachine Society sought to organise and speak for gay men, and they favoured assimilation. Their objective was to demonstrate that gay men were ‘normal’ and just like everybody else.
Following the Stonewall riots, and in line with the counter-culture movements of the late-60s, representatives of the LGBTQ community became increasingly emboldened and more confrontational. New organisations were established, community-focused newspapers were published, and there was more of a willingness to be open, to be visible, to be different.
It was on the first anniversary of the Stonewall riots, 28 June 1970, that the first Gay Pride marches were held . The LGBTQ communities of New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago held events to commemorate the raid on the Stonewall Inn and the violent confrontation that followed. The following year, Gay Pride marches were also held in Boston, Dallas, Milwaukee, London, Paris, West Berlin, and Stockholm . In subsequent years, the number of cities participating continued to grow.
Today, Pride events and celebrations are a big moment. They’re an important and symbolic opportunity for our community to come together, to celebrate our diversity and our visibility as well as our strength and resilience.
If you’re growing up in today’s world, starting to navigate your sexuality, starting to understand how you connect with the LGBTQ community that you see around you, it’s important to understand how LGBTQ identity has evolved over time, and the role that events such as the Stonewall riots have played in that.
History is important because it helps us learn from those that have gone before us – the battles that have been fought, the struggles that have been won, the mistakes that have been made.
You might not feel that you’ve got much connection with the people who lived in New York City in 1969, but it’s because of those people – because of their lifetimes of harassment and discrimination that culminated in six nights of violence – that we can proudly identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, trans, queer, or however you want to define yourself within the broad LGBTQ umbrella. It’s because of those people that we can live openly as ourselves, that we can get married if we want, that we can have families if we want, that we have the freedom to lead the lives that we want. It’s because of those people that we continue to hold Pride marches around the world.
We honour the marginalised people of Greenwich Village – people who had nothing left to lose, people who were pushed so far that they had no alternative but to stand up to harassment and stand up to discrimination .
When is World Pride?
In 2019, World Pride was held in New York City to coincide with the 50th anniversary of Stonewall.
World Pride is an international Pride celebration that happens every two years. A different city hosts World Pride each time.
Since it began in 2000, World Pride has been held in the following cities:
- 2000: Rome
- 2006: Jerusalem
- 2012: London
- 2014: Toronto
- 2017: Madrid
- 2019: New York City
Future World Pride events are scheduled for Copenhagen in 2021, and Sydney in 2023.
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