New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has just been announced as the latest world leader to headline Global Pride on Saturday as Asia Pacific pride organisations get set to lead off celebrations.
Ardern will be joined by her openly gay Finance Minister Grant Robertson amongst other leaders including Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau, Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar and Icelandic President Guðni Jóhannesson.
Ardern will be one of the first speakers to address the global movement, an ambitious online event curated by Pride organisations after the COVID19 pandemic caused the cancellation or postponement of hundreds of Pride events worldwide.
“Let’s all recommit to keep doing the work that’s required and make sure that we show that international solidarity so that everyone can celebrate who they are, no matter where in the world they live,” Ardern said in her recorded address to Global Pride.
Three Pride Festivals from around New Zealand (Auckland Pride, Wellington International Pride Parade, Winter Pride Queenstown) will join many from Australia (Sydney Mardi Gras, Tropical Fruits, Brisbane Pride, Melbourne’s Midsumma) and other parts of Asia Pacific for the event hosted by Todrick Hall and featuring more than 1,000 pieces of content including music, performances, speeches and messages of support submitted by over 500 Pride organisations across the globe.
They will be joined by speakers from the world of entertainment including the Pussycat Dolls, Rita Ora, Bebe Rexha, Stephen Fry, Leslie Jordan and Joanna Lumley.
The performance element of the event is of equal international calibre with a superstar line-up of performers, including Adam Lambert, Kesha, Village People, Mel C, Leann Rimes, Pussy Riot, Calum Scott, Natasha Bedingfield, and Mary Lambert.
New Zealand Talent
The New Zealand component of Global Pride will feature speakers and performers who will showcase Aotearoa’s unique culture, talent and pride events to the world.
Two stars from Auckland Pride’s 2020 programme will feature in their contribution to the worldwide event – with a performance from arts collective COVEN to showcase queer/trans Māori and Pasifika talent, alongside speaker Aych McArdle who is one of Aotearoa’s most revered human rights activists.
“COVEN electrified the stages they performed on during this year’s Auckland Pride Festival, and their piece in Global Pride is one that stands in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement – and showcases incredible artists from our queer and trans BIPOC community in Tāmaki Makaurau,” said Auckland Pride Director Max Tweedie.
“To have them and Aych representing Auckland perfectly highlights just how much talent and power our communities have.”
Australian Talent
The Pride streaming will also include performances by big names from Australia, including Courtney Act, Betty Who, G Flip, Mama Alto and the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Choir.
The event will also include messages from Aussie gay icons such as from Dannii Minogue, Olivia Newton-John, Equality Australia, ACON’s TransHub, Bi+ Visibility and the Koori Pride Network Victoria.
Co-President of InterPride, Julian Sanjivan said that this year marks an historic occasion that everyone across the world can all take part in the same Pride celebration.
“By taking Pride online, not only are we making sure that LGBTQIA+ people everywhere can still experience the joy and community of Pride, but we also for the first time are enabling people to take part in Pride wherever they are,” Sanjivan said.
“This means people who aren’t out, or who are living in socially conservative countries, can take part. The support of these incredible world leaders and performers will mean so much to marginalised LGBTQIA+ people everywhere.”
Contributions will be packaged with highlight reels from the recent Wellington International Pride Parade (WIPP) and Winter Pride Queenstown festivals, a testament to the diversity of celebrations up and down New Zealand.
The Wellington segment also includes two local performers Callan James and Jazz who are performing original pieces.
The performance from COVEN will open the Aotearoa portion of the stream at 5.15pm NZ Time (0515 GMT).
This opportunity to work on an international platform provides our local festivals the chance to celebrate our unique pride offerings, but also advocate for further progress at home and in all corners of the globe.
“To be able to share a little bit of our celebrations from Wellington with the World makes us burst with Pride,” WIPP Co Chair Richard Tait said.
“I know our artists are so excited to be able to take part in this unique global event and that NZ is leading the world with the start of the program makes it even more exciting. We are hoping that as many people will join us and S&M’s from 5pm Saturday to join the 50-70 million people globally expected.”
Global Pride is supported by partners YouTube and We Are Social, and media partners DIVA, Q.Digital and Time Out.
The event will stream on Todrick Hall’s on YouTube channel, iHeartRadio’s YouTube channel, and on the Global Pride website and will commence at 5pm NZT, 3pm AEST, 5am GMT and will progressively move around the globe and finish 26 hours later.
For the full schedule go here.
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