PIXELS OF PRIDE 50th LGBTQ march to be strictly virtual
Pride doesn’t stop for a pandemic, it just goes virtual.
A year after more than 5 million people took to the streets for the annual LBGTQ event, the NYC Pride march will be “a very different type of celebration” in 2020 thanks to coronavirus.
Organizers on Friday announced the lineup for the landmark 50th anniversary extravaganza on June 28. But in lieu of the usual energetic Manhattan march, this year’s parade will be a TV special with prerecorded video from people’s homes, along with in-studio appearances.
It will feature performances by LGBTQ icons Janelle Monáe, Deborah Cox, Billy Porter, Wilson
Cruz and Margaret Cho, among others, and will air from noon to 2 p.m. on WABC-7 as the city remains on pause amid the fight against COVID-19.
The two-hour event will be held on LGBTQ Pride Day, which is traditionally celebrated on the last Sunday of June to honor the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in 1969.
The first NYC Pride march was held a year after, in June 1970, to recognize the first birthday of the uprising. Last year’s event, which marked the 50th anniversary of the riots, drew an estimated 5 million people.
TV personality Carson Kressley will co-host the special, joining WABC’s Ken Rosato and Lauren Glassberg, along with correspondents Sam Champion and
Kemberly Richardson.
“NYC Pride is a special place for so many,” Kressley said in a statement. “I couldn’t imagine a year without celebrating with the fabulous LBGTQ people in New York,.”
“When I was asked to join this special broadcast event with my friends at WABC, it was a no brainer,” he added. “Pride is something we carry with us all year long, and though we can’t be together in the way we are accustomed, I’m grateful to be a part of it in this way.”
The event will honor this year’s grand marshals, who had already been announced before the coronavirus pandemic shut down the global economy and enforced social distancing rules.
They include Dan Levy, the co-creator and star of the smash hit Canadian sitcom “Schitt’s Creek”; human rights activist Yanzi Peng, executive director of LGBT Rights Advocacy China; LGBTQ rights powerhouse activist Victoria Cruz; and the Ali Forney Center, the nation’s largest organization dedicated to caring for homeless LGBTQ youth.
“The NYC Pride March is such a pillar of our community and I am incredibly honored to be recognized alongside the other Grand Marshals on its 50th anniversary,” Dan Levy said.
“While the physical circumstances are less than ideal, our community has always come together in the face of adversity, and this year’s broadcast is no exception. I am so inspired by the opportunity we’ve been given to celebrate together.”