Which LGBTQ Pride events have been cancelled?
After 2019’s big focus on the 50th anniversary of Stonewall, 2020 is obviously a very different bucket of fish.
In the US, June is officially Pride Month, but Pride celebrations are normally happening throughout the year in different parts of the world.
The enormous disruption being caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in the cancellation of pretty much everything.
What we don’t know is how long the disruption will last for, and when it might be possible for events to take place in whatever new-normal we’re left with.
Is everything cancelled?
Most events are either cancelled or under review. At this stage, it’s too early for us to have any real confidence as to which events will be going ahead but we’ll be updating this page regularly as information becomes available.
Canada
- As at 18 March, organisers have advised that they are still hopeful of proceeding with the event in some form but everything is under review.
United States
- This was scheduled for 5 April but has now been postponed. New dates for this event have not yet been confirmed.
- This was scheduled for 16 May but has now been postponed. New dates for this event have not yet been confirmed.
- This was scheduled for 12-14 June, but on 13 March organisers confirmed that they have postponed the event. New dates have not yet been announced.
- No decision appears to have been made about this year’s Pride celebrations. Key West is currently following social distancing guidelines so the event is under review.
- As of 17 March, the organisers have indicated that they’re hopeful that the event will proceed but they are currently reviewing the situation.
- No decision appears to have been made about this year’s Pride celebrations. It seems inevitable that this will be cancelled or postponed.
- As of 9 March, the organisers have indicated that they’re hopeful that the event will proceed but they are currently reviewing the situation.
- No decision appears to have been announced about Chicago Pride.
- No decision appears to have been announced about Chicago Pride.
South America
- This was scheduled for 14 June but has now been postponed to 22 November.
UK
- Pride in London was meant to be happening on 27 June but organisers have confirmed that they have decided to postpone.
- New dates have not yet been confirmed, so it’s not clear if the event will be able to take place in 2020.
- Originally scheduled for 28 June, organisers have confirmed that the event has been postponed. A revised date has not yet been set.
- As at 27 March, organisers have confirmed that the event has been postponed, but they are still exploring whether it will be possible to find new dates for a 2020 event.
- As at 21 March, organisers have confirmed that the event is under review but has not yet been cancelled.
- As at 19 March, organisers have confirmed that the event has not yet been cancelled.
8 August – Swindon & Wiltshire
- As at 26 March, organisers have confirmed that they are continuing to plan for the event and are hopeful that it will be able to proceed as planned.
- As at 21 March, organisers have confirmed that they are continuing to plan for the event.
- Originally scheduled for 23 May, on 23 March the organisers confirmed that they had rescheduled the 2020 event to 5-6 September.
Europe
- Originally scheduled for 23-24 May, organisers have confirmed that the event has been postponed to August, with indicative dates being 21-31 August.
- One of the world’s major Pride events, the 2020 Pride march is currently scheduled for 27 June. However, it’s looking increasingly unlikely that celebrations will be able to go ahead on this date.
- Given the ongoing disruption being caused by Covid-19 in Spain, it seems inevitable that Pride will need to be postponed or cancelled. So far, no announcement has been made.
- This is a spectacular Pride event because of the parade of boats on the city’s canal.
- There is a chance that this event could go ahead, but at this stage no official decision has been announced.
Asia
- Originally scheduled for 25 April, organisers have announced that this has been cancelled. We’ll have to wait until 2021 to celebrate LGBTQ Pride in Tokyo.
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 will be holding 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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