Pride Events, Circuit Parties, Gay Ski Weeks Cancelling or Postponing Due to Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Denver PrideFest 2018: A gay ol’ time in the mile-high city

COVID-19, more commonly referred to as, the Coronavirus, is more serious than many of thought it would be. It is a serious because organizations, not-for-profits and corporations are are concerned for staff, vendors, and attendees health and safety. Disneyland has shutdown, March Madness is cancelled, and all of Amazon is working remote (after buying an expensive new campus). Even Tom Hanks, America’s dad has caught Corona.

The world economy is hanging in the balance and there is a huge impact due to the rapidness at which COVID-19 is spreading. Countries all across the world are closing their borders and setting up two week quarantine zones in an attempt to curb the spread and stop their hospitals from becoming overburdened. The situation has gotten so bad that Trump has banned travel from Europe nations. 

The containment of COVID-19 has become a priority, and it is now impacting many of our dreams, especially in the LGBTQ community, because the Pride and circuit party season is about to take a serious hit. Truthfully speaking, this virus, which has now become a pandemic by the WHO, couldn’t have come at a worse time for the gay community. Spring is finally here, and summer is close behind. Event organizers are making tough choices and making decisions that impact the gay calendar.

Normally, we would all be gearing up for Pride  and other major festivals, but many of them are responsibly shutting down in an attempt to halt the spread of COVID-19. Here are some of the upcoming events that have unfortunately had to close or reschedule, and their status, based on time of publication:

  • Phoenix Pride: 
    The executive board is meeting on March 12 to discuss and conduct a risk assessment.A statement is expected to be released on March 13 whether or not the planned events will take place April 4-5, 2020.
  • White Party Palm Springs
    Due to the escalation of COVID-19, White Party Palm Springs will re-schedule their event to October 30 – November 2, 2020. All tickets purchased for the April 2020 event will be honored to the new dates or to their 2021 weekend dates. 
  • RuPaul’s DragCon  LA
    RuPaul’s epic DragCon, the colossal expo celebrating drag culture, was scheduled to be held at the beginning of May, has also cancelled their event. They are not planning to reschedule, and have decided to wait for better times in 2021. If you did buy tickets to DragCon, don’t despair, the event has promised to work with Eventbrite to refund tickets.
  • LA Pride 
    Due to the concerns of COVID-19 around large public events, CSW will postpone all events related to the 50thanniversary of LA Pride that were scheduled for June 2020. Organizers continue to assess the situation and will provide more information as details become available. 
  • NYC Pride
    NYC Pride is monitoring everything and still hasn’t decided to cancel one of the United States largest Pride events which is scheduled to take place in June. They are encouraging revelers to visit NY’s Department of Health’s dedicated website for more up to date information on the state of the Corona virus. It’s a great resource if you’re looking to learn about the state of NYC pride in the future.
  • Vancouver Pride
    Vancouver’s gay pride event is scheduled to happen in August. They are not currently planning on canceling anything. The Vancouver pride society has put out a statement encouraging “community care”, however, saying that folks should consider forgoing greeting rituals. This means no handshakes, hugs, and definitely no performing the bise or un bec as they say in Canada. 

Not every gay event is being canceled, so you can still get your party on if you really feel the need. Just remember to be careful and think of the safety of your fellow revelers. Wash your hands, don’t touch your face, and monitor your condition. If you do go to a crowded event, consider avoiding at risk people in your life for a couple weeks. This means, don’t visit your infant nephew or aging grandparents a couple weeks after going hard at a party. 

Keep watching for updates on HomoCulture and from the official event organizers for events you are planning to attend. This is a very fluid situation with decisions changing day-by-day, hour-by-hour.

HomoCulture will do its best to continue to update this space as news and information becomes available.

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By Brian Webb

4 years ago

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