LGBTQ+ Pride Month Events Will Be Virtual For Another Year Due to Ongoing COVID Concerns – Two New Events Announced
Nominations Sought for Awards to be Given During Virtual Pride Month and
New Rally for Equality planned for Saturday, September 18th, 2021.
KALAMAZOO, MI March 23, 2021 – OutFront Kalamazoo, one of Michigan’s largest LGBTQ+ community centers, today announced that no large in-person events will be scheduled during Pride Month in June given ongoing COVID-19 safety concerns. A virtual awards ceremony will replace Kalamazoo Pride on Friday, June 11, 2021 and other online events will be scheduled in June in order to ensure the continued health and safety of the community.
“Despite the increase in the availability of vaccines, there are still many uncertainties that come with hosting a large-scale, in-person event,” said Amy Hunter, Executive Director of OutFront Kalamazoo. “We polled the community and reviewed guidance from health officials, and it was clear that June was simply too soon for an event as large as Kalamazoo Pride. When we gather again as a community, we will do it without putting the community’s health at risk.”
While COVID-19 has caused the cancellation of Kalamazoo Pride for the second year, it has also inspired the creation of two events that will serve to celebrate and activate the local LGBTQ+ community and its allies in 2021.
The first will be the #AlwaysOUTFront Awards, an event designed to give the community an opportunity to recognize individuals who have made significant contributions to the work of LGBTQ+ equality, social justice and the advancement of OutFront’s mission. Nominations are now open at outfrontkzoo.org/awards and will be accepted up until 6:00 pm on Friday, April 23, 2021. The awards ceremony will be broadcast on June 11th on Facebook Live.
The second will be the Rally for Equality, a new one-day outdoor event that will give the LGBTQ+ community and its allies the first opportunity this year to come together in person to raise our visibility and rally our community around the unfinished work of LGBTQ+ equity. The gathering is tentatively scheduled for Saturday, September 18, 2021. Details will be announced in April.
It is expected that Kalamazoo Pride will return in June 2022, bigger and better than ever. “But Pride isn’t a single moment; it is a movement” said Hunter. “Events can be rescheduled and reimagined, but you cannot cancel the spirit of PRIDE that exists in our community. The nature of this ongoing pandemic has given us opportunity again to demonstrate our resilience, our creativity and our commitment to one another. Together, we will stay healthy, safe, strong and PROUD.”
OutFront Kalamazoo is a non-profit, charitable organization whose mission is to create a just, inclusive, equitable, and supportive environment in Southwest Michigan for people of all sexual orientations and gender identities and expressions.
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