L.A. Pride Postponed Due to COVID-19

L.A. Pride, celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, has been postponed from June to an undetermined date due to the COVID-19 crisis.

The Christopher Street West Association, which organizes L.A. Pride, sent out a brief tweet Thursday saying the event would be postponed and promising details later, then posted a letter to the community on the Los Angeles Blade's website.

"We will be announcing a date in the near future for later this year," Christopher Street West President Estevan Jose Montemayor said in a phone call to the Blade, adding that all events related to LA Pride are now postponed.

The Pride event, one of the biggest in the nation, was to be held June 12-14.

The Christopher Street West letter acknowledges that LGBTQ Angelenos will be disappointed by the postponement but emphasizes that "Pride is more than just weekend in a year. Or even a month. Pride is something that we live and breathe every day."

"In the coming weeks and months, we will make sure that the spirit of Pride is not forgotten," the letter promises. "We are still working out all the details, but we can guarantee that LA's LGBTQ+ community -- and the entire world -- will not get through 2020 without a Pride celebration to remember."

"Stay proud, Los Angeles," it concludes. "We've already celebrated 50 years of Pride. We're just starting to gear up to celebrate 50 years more."

Several other LGBTQ events have been affected by the pandemic. The GLAAD Media Awards' New York ceremony, scheduled for March 19, has been canceled, and GLAAD is evaluating plans for the Los Angeles ceremony, set for April 16. The Los Angeles LGBT Center has canceled its Simply diVine food and wine event, scheduled for April 18. Equality Florida has canceled or postponed all of its large public events between now and mid-April.