Durban Pride 2016 expected to be a bumper edition

Taking place alongside the International Aids Conference this year, Durban Pride 2016 is set to be an especially unique and memorable outing.

Durban Pride Week runs from Monday 18 to Sunday 24 July and was moved from its usual June date to coincide with the huge global event.

Highlights will include the Mr & Miss Durban Pride Pageant and Pride Pre-Party at the Protea Edward Hotel on 22 July, followed by the Durban Pride Liberation March and Festival and after-parties on Saturday 23 July (see below).

With more than 18,000 delegates from around the world attending the Aids Conference, many of them involved in the LGBTI and human rights fields, it’s likely there could a larger and more cosmopolitan turn out for the Pride march.

“We are looking forward to it,” Nonhlanhla MC Mkhize, from the Durban Pride 2016 Planning Committee, told Mambaonline.

“We are getting an indication of participation of people from around the world. This makes this Pride particularly important; it’s not just Durban but us uniting with the wider LGBTI community.”

The links between Pride and the conference are particularly apt considering the theme for the conference is “Access Equity Rights Now” – a call to action to reach people who still lack access to comprehensive HIV treatment, prevention, care and support services, including members of the LGBTI community, and men who have sex with men (MSM).

Following the march on Saturday, participants will be treated to host of LGBTI talent at the Amphitheatre on North Beach. There will also be opportunities for people to write and share messages of support for survivors of hate crimes, including the victims of the Orlando massacre.

The theme for Durban Pride 2016 is “Humanity Beyond Identity”, which aims to “remind everyone that we are people first before who we are identified as,” said Mkhize.

Below is a list of LGBTI and MSM events being held as part of Pride and / or the Aids Conference:

Sat 16

• 9am MSM Global Forum Pre-Conference (Action + Access), ICC
• 9am Keep The Promise March, SunCoast Casino
• 2pm Keep The Promise Concert with Queen Latifah & Common, Sahara Stadium

Mon18

• 12pm LGBTI Dialogue @ ICC
• 6pm Speed Date @ Ciao Bella

Tues 19

• 9pm Quick Quiz: A Naughty But Nice Pride Trivia Evening @ Club Altitude

Wed 20

• 4pm Film Makers Dialogue & Film Screening @ Global Village, ICC

Thurs 21

• 6pm Bonfire Discussion @ GreenLab

Fri 22

• 6pm Portrait Party @ GreenLab
  7pm Mr and Ms Pride @ Protea Hotel Edward R80

Sat 23

• 12pm Durban Pride Parade & Festival, Amphitheatre, North Beach: (Gates open at 10am, the programme starts at 12:00, parade at 13:00)
•  8pm Durban Pride Official AfterParty R100/R400 VIP, Club Altitude/Sky Bar Precinct
•  8pm All Black Edition @ Hay Store

Sun 24

• Pool Party In Montclair (TBC)
• Benefit Concert @ The Banyard (TBC)

For more information contact Nonhlanhla MC Mkhize on mc@durbanpride.org.za / 083 748 9565 or visit the Durban Pride Facebook page for updates.