World Pride 2023 Site Down to 3 Cities, Incl. Red State Metropolis

WorldPride, an international celebration of LGBTQ unity and progress, is closing in on choosing its 2023 host city, with locations winnowed down to Sydney, Montreal, and Houston.

If Houston is chosen, it will be the second American city to host the celebration, following New York's recently-wrapped 2019 event.

Organized by InterPride, a coalition of LGBTQ Pride organizations around the globe, World Pride now takes place every two years and hosts parades, festivals, and numerous cultural events focusing on the queer experience. The first WorldPride happened in 2000 in Rome, with heavy opposition from the Roman Catholic Church. Jerusalem (2006), London (2012), Toronto (2014), Madrid (2017), and New York hosted the event in the following years.

Copenhagen will host 2021's WorldPride, with some events planned in the nearby Swedish city of Malmo; the festival will coincide with the EuroGames and anniversaries of LGBTQ victories in Denmark.

WorldPride officials will make their final decision on the 2023 site in October.

"Pride Houston, Inc., Fierte Montreal, and Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras, will now all present their bids to the membership in Athens, at the 2019 Annual General Meeting & World Conference, to select who shall receive the license," WorldPride co-chairs announced in a statement. "Best of luck to all three applicants."