Coronavirus/COVID-19

The increasing spread of the Coronavirus / COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on LGBTI Pride events across Europe in 2020 and 2021

Quick links

Throughout the COVID19 pandemic the European Pride Organisers Association supported its members by providing resources, sharing guidance, and collating information. EuroPride 2020 itself was postponed until 2024.

We urged everyone to read and follow the guidance from the World Health Organisation (WHO), the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, and from the national health authority in their own country who will advise on safety at public and major events. WHO also published helpful recommendations for those planning mass gathering events, such as Pride.

We recommended that all Pride organisers have contingency plans in place should there be a need to postpone or cancel their event, and also consider the impact that public concern about coronavirus might have on volunteer recruitment, travel and other factors.

With the pandemic in abeyance in Europe in 2022, we hope for a return to in-person Pride events. 


Global Pride 2020

Working with international partners including InterPride, CSD Deutschland, Svenska Pride and the UK Pride Organisers Network, on Saturday 27 June we held the world’s biggest Pride event with millions of people connecting worldwide. The 27 hour digital Pride was organised and delivered entirely by volunteers.

Read more on the Global Pride 2020 website.


COVID19 International Coordination Group

COVID19 brought unprecedented challenges for the Pride movement and the international and national Pride networks worked together to ensure a coordinated approach. EPOA and InterPride led a COVID19 / Pride International Coordination Group which met regularly to discuss the impact of COVID19, how our organisations and members were responding, and what resources and support were needed. 


Resources

Changes to Pride events

In 2020 we maintained a Google Sheet and Google Map of known changes to LGBTI Pride events around the world. These are embedded below or you can click here to access the sheet and here to access the map. The sheet and map are no longer being updated but are provided here for archival purposes.


We held a webinar on Monday 9 March 2020 together with our colleagues from the international Pride network, InterPride; you can watch the hour-long webinar here and download the slides here.


Facebook group

We created a private Facebook group for Pride organisers to discuss responses to Coronavirus / COVID-19, but this group is no longer active.


News coverage

Read our news story on the impact on Pride organisations. The following list of coverage is chronological, with the most recent coverage appearing last.


Resources from our international partners