Cape Town Pride 2021 to host Virtual Pride Parade

This year’s Cape Town Pride will hold a Virtual Pride Parade while raising funds for the planned Nkoli House LGBTIQA+ community centre and senior citizens home.

OUTReach Africa, the organisers of Pride have admitted that it’s been a challenge to plan the 2021 event amid the Covid-19 restrictions.

The difficulty, explains Festival Director Matthew Van As, has been to produce events that both give our community visibility and also fundraise for the various projects that OUTReach Africa supports and runs.

“But the team at OUTReach Africa has risen to the challenge and put together a program of events that are safe, engaging and community centred,” says Van As. “Out of this came the concept of Cape Town Pride 2021+. Events are either going to be live-stream or pre-recorded – so that everyone has access to them.”

Some of the events on the calendar this year are the Pride Movie Festival, Hero Awards and Auction, Pride Art Night, Pride Poetry Night and Pride Comedy.

The events, which kick off on 14 March with the Pride Hike, have limited numbers when it comes to physical participation due to Covid-19 restrictions, so it’s best to book early.

The main festival day on 27 March, at present, is going to be live-streamed. “We are still going to have an amazing line-up of artists and speakers – just in a different format. We will also be hosting a Virtual Pride Parade,” explains Van As.

This concept allows all LGBTIQA+ NPOs, NGOs, community groups and community members to submit videos that will be edited into a Virtual Pride Parade.

Videos need to be sent to virtualparade@capetownpride.org by 20 March 2021; all the information can be found in the YouTube video below.

The funds raised from Cape Town Pride 2021+ will be allocated to the Nkoli House Project, named in honour of the late Simon Nkoli, the queer activist and anti-apartheid campaigner, who fought tirelessly for freedom, equality and social justice.

The project has identified the need for a community centre aimed at providing a home, and safe space, for our diverse LGBTIQA+ community to gather, meet and mix with like-minded people – with special emphasis on the often-overlooked needs of the silver seniors in the community. This space will be used as a community centre and senior citizens home once it has been completed.

Last year’s Cape Town Pride was one of the few Pride events lucky enough to narrowly miss the start of the Covid-19 lockdown.

For more information on all the 2021 events, visit the Cape Town Pride Facebook page.