The modern LGBTQIA+ rights movement, from Pride celebrations to the very narrative of coming out, is built on leaving isolation behind to find community and togetherness. But in this era of social distancing, Pride festivals around the world have been forced to cancel or postpone. While COVID-19 is having a devastating impact on the community’s ability to celebrate Pride in person, it can’t cancel its spirit.

We’re inspired by the resiliency of queer creators around the world who are working overtime to come up with innovative ways to celebrate Pride this year. To rally around and celebrate the creativity and heart of the queer community, Eventbrite is partnering with Queer House Party,  Good Neighbor Festivals, Juanita MORE!, NYC Pride, SF Pride, SF Bay Area Queer Nightlife Fund, The Fathers Project, and The Stud SF to host We’re Still Here: The All-Night Queer Event Celebration.

Community leaders, queer icons and longstanding event creators have collaborated with Eventbrite to provide insight into what Pride means this year, through the lens of COVID-19, and guide in the curation of this 12-hour virtual festival. The result is a diverse schedule of online events designed to both celebrate Pride and provide a platform to further amplify queer voices. With additional tools and resources developed to support creators in taking their events online, queer creators have the opportunity to connect with new audiences in new locations around the world through the We’re Still Here festival.

“Pride is always a colourfully diverse celebration of queer culture, but it’s also about visibility, civil rights, education, and love, which are needed more than ever during this pandemic,” said Vivian Chaves, community manager and co-founder of the Pride Employee Resource Group at Eventbrite. “We’ve seen many queer creators move their experiences online to maintain connections with their networks, and perhaps the silver lining of this difficult situation is that online events have the power to globally engage communities in ways we’ve not experienced before – from small-town America to far-reaching corners of the world. That’s something to celebrate.”

“Eventbrite has done the work to authentically show up for the queer community at such an unprecedented time and we are more than happy to provide insight and guidance during the creation and planning of ‘We’re Still Here’ for this year’s virtual Pride celebration,” said Claudia Garib, Communications Coordinator for NYC Pride. “We hope that through our resources and actionable examples, brands of all kinds contribute to Pride in impactful and meaningful ways this year.”

“Who’s better to partner with than Eventbrite? We’re particularly enthusiastic because in most years, ‘Pride Month’ really means flag-raising on June 1 and tonnes of events scheduled for Pride Weekend, with not as much in between. Not this time,” said Peter Kane, Communications Manager for SF Pride. “This virtual festival will help ensure we can stay connected all month long, and we’re excited to be part of that. Come hang out with us!”

We’re Still Here is scheduled for June 12, 2020, with events starting at 8 p.m. BST and running every hour until 8 a.m. BST. Attendees will be able to enjoy a variety of online experiences, ranging from virtual drag shows and cardio workout classes to viewings of never-before-seen Pride video footage from the cutting room floor of Leo Herrera’s documentary, Fathers.

To register for an event, visit our event page.