LGBTQ+ stars and allies including Billy Porter, Katy Perry, Adam Lambert, Big Freedia,
and Sia are teaming up this month to keep the legacy of Pride alive in 2020,
despite social-distancing restrictions forcing most would-be celebrations to shut down.
On June 25, a live-streamed virtual COVID-19 relief event called Can’t Cancel Pride will air
via iHeartRadio. All donations will benefit national organizations supporting LGBTQ+
communities, including the National Black Justice Coalition, The Trevor Project, Outright, GLAAD, SAGE, and CenterLink.
In the months since the coronavirus outbreak forced most of America into
quarantine, more than 475 Pride events across the country have been cancelled.
Yet activists argue never has the need for LGBTQ+ rights and allyship been more clear: In
recent weeks, several Black trans men and women, including Riah Milton, Dominique
“Rem’mie” Fells, Tony McDade, and Layleen Cubilette-Polanco, were killed.
A few days before the Supreme Court ruled that gay and transgender people are
protected from workplace discrimination, the Trump Administration finalized a
regulation that denies transgender patients protections against discrimination in health care.
The Can’t Cancel Pride event seeks to fill the gaps where COVID-19 has revealed
disparities between the general population and LGBTQ+ communities. According to data
collected by the Human Rights Coalition, LGBTQ+ people are more likely to work in
industries highly affected by quarantine restrictions; they’re less likely than the general
population to have health insurance; and they’re more likely to experience poverty.
The Trevor Project also demonstrates that LGBTQ+ youth are particularly vulnerable to
mental health impacts from the pandemic.
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