May the next celebration be even more colourful!
WORDS BY ELEANOR NOYCE, IMAGES BY ANDREAS PAULSSON & LINDA RILEY.
After a year of cancelled Pride celebrations, World Pride took place from August 12-22 in Copenhagen and Malmö. Opened by the Princess of Denmark and Phyll Opoku-Gyimah, co-founder and director of UK Black Pride, this year’s festival was an even bigger, bolder celebration of equality, arts and human rights.
Hosted by Copenhagen Pride in collaboration with Malmö Pride, the official opening in the UN City took place on 16 August, and evaluated the progress, discussed challenges and explored policies to include LGBTQIA+ people in the frame of the global SDGs to a greater extent. World Pride 2021 hosted a series of events across the week, including the Global Human Rights Conference and the EuroGames Opening Ceremony.
This year, DIVA publisher Linda Riley was delighted to attend. She met the Chair of World Pride and the Prime Minister of Denmark, Mette Frederiksen…
…posed with Lady Phyll:
…appeared on a panel:
…and even met the Princess of Denmark!
Importantly, the Human Rights Forum aimed to target various groups, including politicians, activists, media, government officials, and the general public, acting as a space for discussion and education alike. The Human Rights Conference took place both digitally and physically over three days, between 17 and 19 August.
Throughout, WorldPride Square at Rådhuspladsen acted as focus point of the event, forming a village for participants to gather throughout the day. The Pride March, one of the largest events of World Pride 2021, took place on Saturday 21 August. Excitingly, six different WorldPride Marches began at various points throughout Copenhagen, capitulating at the Closing Ceremony. What a celebration!
The next WorldPride celebration takes place in Sydney in 2023, coinciding with the 50th Anniversary of the first Australian Gay Pride, the 45th Anniversary of the first Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras, and the 5th Anniversary of the legislation of same-sex marriage in Australia. May it be even more colourful!
DIVA magazine celebrates 27 years in print in 2021. If you like what we do, then get behind LGBTQI media and keep us going for another generation. Your support is invaluable.
