Pride in Liverpool, usually attracts more than 50,000 people but has been postponed due to coronavirus – now organisers are to hold a virtual march this summer. Tony McDonough reports
Liverpool’s annual Pride celebrations are going virtual as organisers offer an alternative to the event which has been postponed due to coronavirus.
Pride in Liverpool, usually attracts more than 50,000 people and is one of the city’s biggest annual events. This year’s march and celebration was due to take place on Saturday, July 25, with organisers now hoping to announce a new date later in the year.
Now LCR Pride Foundation, the organisation responsible for delivering Pride in Liverpool and the annual March with Pride, has opened registrations for a virtual march, to take place on the same.
Instead of taking to the streets of the city, the organisation is this year inviting individuals, groups and businesses to join a ‘MarchOnline’, allowing the LGBT+ community and its allies to safely come together to march in solidarity, celebration and in protest against the prejudice and inequalities that the LGBT+ community continues to face, in the UK and across the globe.
The virtual march will comprise videos of individuals marching, cheering and holding placards in their own homes, submitted by the members of the public, charities and businesses supporting the LGBT+ community.
The videos will then be broadcast from the organisation’s social channels, at 12 noon on Saturday, July 25, when the physical march had been set to take place.
Last year saw Liverpool’s biggest ever March with Pride, with a record 12,000 coming together for the annual event. However, both 2020’s March with Pride and Pride in Liverpool were postponed in April, in response to public health concerns raised by the ongoing global pandemic.
LCR Pride Foundation interim chief executive, Andi Herring, said: “It has never been more important for us to find a way to come together as a community, feel connected and March with Pride. MarchOnline provides us with a safe way to do that from our homes and mark who would have been the weekend of Pride in Liverpool.
“We’re looking forward to seeing the diversity and creativity of the Liverpool city region’s LGBT+ community, its supporters and allies shining through in our virtual march. Even despite a global pandemic, we will march on.”
Individuals wishing to take part in the virtual march are asked to register and submit a landscape-orientation photo or 20-second video while waving, cheering, marching, dancing, posing with a partner, family or pet, or even displaying a banner.
Organisations wishing to ‘march’ as a group will also be given the opportunity to provide a 10 – 20 second video from a designated spokesperson, introducing the organisation, why it is marching and sharing what Pride means to them.
Andrew Websdale, regional head of Barclays Spectrum, Barclays LGBT+ colleague network said: “Pride is still needed, more so than ever for some. So although we can’t celebrate in the same way in Liverpool this year, we are delighted to support the Young at Heart 2020 Digital Programme, including the MarchOnline event.”
The deadline for registration and submission of images and videos is midnight on Monday, July 6. Click here for more details.