PRIDE
Mix of Virtual, In-Person Events for Pride Weekend
Schedule includes NYC Pride festivities, Queer Liberation March for Black Lives
BY MATT TRACY
Heritage of Pride (HOP)
and other groups have
planned virtual events
and the Reclaim Pride
Coalition’s Queer Liberation March
for Black Lives and Against Police
Brutality will be held in person on
June 28 to wrap up the fi nal weekend
of Pride month in New York
City.
HOP’s long weekend of events,
moved online due to the coronavirus
pandemic, will begin on June
25 with an all-day conference centered
on human rights. The conference,
which will kick off at 9:30
a.m. and last until 6:30 p.m., will
center on activism and issues in
the community and feature educators,
journalists, policymakers,
students, activists, artists, and
others who are involved in human
rights work.
The free conference will stream
live on HOP’s Facebook page and
YouTube channel. Registration is
still open.
Schedule includes NYC Pride festivities,
Queer Liberation March for
Black Lives
On that same evening, there
will be a virtual “She’s a Riot” rally,
march, and dance — the event
benefi ts the Marsha P. Johnson Institute
and is not listed as a HOP
event — featuring a range of LGBTQ
celebrities inluding Billy Porter
and MJ Rodriguez. Ashlee Marie
Preston will host and moderate
the rally. Tickets begin at $15.
Another virtual event on June
25, this one produced by the NYC
LGBT Historic Sites Project, commemorates
the 50th anniversary
of the Christopher Street Liberation
Day March, which eventually
became known into the city’s annual
Pride march. This free virtual
event will be held via Zoom on June
25 from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. and
looks back at the instrumental
role that organizers such as Craig
Rodwell played in putting together
the fi rst march.
The NYC LGBT Historic Sites
Project’s directors, Andrew Scott
Dolkart, Jay Shockley, and Ken
Lustbader will facilitate a virtual
presentation and celebration.
Those who wish to attend are
asked to check in at 6:25 ahead of
the 6:30 event start time.
HOP will also host an NYC Pride
Rally of its own on Friday, June 26,
from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m. on You-
Tube and Facebook. Preston will
also be hosting that event, along
with transgender actor Brian Michael
Smith.
Speakers for that event include
Ceyenne Doroshow, Annie Segarra,
Edafe Okporo, and Leandro E. Rodriguez
Ramos, while GLAAD and
the National LGBTQ Task Force
will use that opportunity to convey
the importance of queer participation
in the census.
Virtual events are also on tap for
Saturday, June 27. The Brooklyn
Academy of Music (BAM) and New
York Live Arts are partnering up
for a special live online Pride celebration
called “The House Party
With Everybody,” which will help
raise funds for the Callen-Lorde
Community Health Center, GRIOT
Circle, and Black Trans Femmes
in the Arts. The event will feature
multiple artists and collectives performing
drag, dance, song, storytelling,
video collages, and more.
The event will be hosted by Andre
J, The Dauphine of Bushwick,
and Raja Feather Kelly, while participating
artists will include Bill
T. Jones, queer performance artist
Migguel Anggelo, electro-funk duo
The Illustrious Blacks, Untitled
Queen for Bubble_T, the all-female
sound system Gyal Tings, and
Overall Mother Summer LaBeija
and Gulf Coast Mother Coco La-
Beija. The event streama on livestream.
com, BAM.org, and NewYorkLiveArts.
org.
At noon on Sunday, June 28,
HOP’s main Pride march will be
replaced with a two-hour program
aired on ABC7, the same station
that usually airs the annual Pride
march in normal times. The event
will feature grand marshals Dan
Levy, creator of “Schitt’s Creek,”
Yanzi Peng, a Chinese LGBTQ ac-
MICHAEL LUONGO
The Reclaim Pride Coalition is hosting a second annual march after holding a successful inaugural event
last year.
PHOTO HERITAGE OF PRIDE
Heritage of Pride’s Human Rights Conference on June 25 will feature educators, journalists, policymakers,
students, activists, artists, and others.
➤ PRIDE WEEKEND, continued on p.12
PHOTO BAM
he Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) and New York Live Arts are hosting a live online Pride celebration
on Saturday, June 27, at 8 p.m.
June 25- July 15, 2 10 020 | GayCityNews.com
/BAM.org
/GayCityNews.com
