I'm so incredibly joyful that my home city of Cape Town is going to have the opportunity to host WorldPride in 2028! The city has a long-standing history of being very welcoming to the LGBTQIA+ community, as a home and a tourist destination, so I believe this is very deserving. I have no doubt Cape Town will create a fantastic, wholesome, and exciting space to host the 2028 WorldPride events, which I'm looking very forward to attending!
A Truly Historic Opportunity for Cape Town
My home city of Cape Town, South Africa, has been chosen to host WorldPride 2028! This is a momentous achievement, and such an honor.
For those who don't know, Cape Town has a long-standing history as a very friendly and welcoming place for residents and tourists who are part of the LGBTQIA+ community - something I LOVE about this city.
Just take a wander around the famously allied area of De Waterkant, Cape Town's "gay village" or main "gayborhood", and you'll see what I mean. Many tourists who are part of the community come here to have their same-sex weddings and honeymoons, and I imagine many Africans who are persecuted at home choose to move here, where they're safe and protected under the law, and welcomed and respected for who they are by very friendly Capetonians.
WorldPride is a series of international pride events, coordinated by InterPride.
Founded all the way back in 1982, InterPride is a global network of over 375 Pride organizations from over 70 countries, connecting and coordinating the efforts of all Prides, on every continent. Their work helps to strengthen the global Pride movement, uniting people from all walks of life to celebrate diversity and inclusivity. A fantastic, highly commendable, and highly valuable mission; one that I greatly, deeply respect, admire, and support.
InterPride's vision is: "...to achieve legal, social, and cultural equity for SOGIESC communities through the Pride movement".
And, their mission is: "To contribute to the visibility and inclusion of diverse sexual orientations, gender identities and expressions, and sex characteristics (SOGIESC) communities. To connect, grow, and support Pride Platforms and networks globally. To assist the Pride movement to design and conduct human rights events that deconstruct myths, lies, and prejudices surrounding SOGIESC realities. To maximize networking and communication across the global Pride movement, offer resources, grow, and leverage partnerships".
For context, InterPride defines Pride as any public or semi-public gathering that is led by, and for, people of diverse SOGIESC communities, that promotes visibility and inclusion.
They have their own podcast, and also host, since 2021, the InterPride Awards, which are granted to both individuals and organizations who have significantly impacted the community over the previous 1 to 2 years.
8 award categories exist, with nominations accepted from the general public and member organizations. The award includes a certificate of acknowledgment, and a permanent listing on the InterPride website.
Members of the general public and InterPride members can submit nominations for each award category. Nominees must be members of InterPride, with the exception of nominees for the Partnership Award, which must be awarded to a current partner of InterPride. The Board of Directors reviews all nominations.
The programs that InterPride runs include their United Nations Advocacy Program (Recently, in June 2023, InterPride was granted Consultative Status at the United Nations); their Racism & Oppression Awareness Program (ROAP); and InterPride's Global Grants Funding Programs (IGGFP), which consist of 3) different types of support - the Humanitarian Aid Fund, the Solidarity Fund, and the Scholarship Fund.
To learn more about them, visit these pages:
- The amazing team behind InterPride
- General information about the organization
- The work that InterPride does
- The programs that Interpride runs
- InterPride's members
- The InterPride podcast
The WorldPride events are hosted in conjunction with local pride festivals, with host cities selected via bids, which are voted on during InterPride's annual general meetings. Its core events include; opening and closing ceremonies, a pride parade (which may either be the host city's existing pride parade, or a bespoke event organized specifically for WorldPride), and an LGBTQIA+ human rights conference.
The inaugural WorldPride was held in Rome in 2000, and Cape Town will be hosting the 11th Edition, taking place in 2028.
I'm so excited to see what we pull off in honor and celebration of the community, and to watch the preparations unfold over the next 4-ish years!
What If I'm Straight?
Fantastic! You can join in the fun too!
If you're not already aware, allies are straight people who support the LGBTQIA+ community. If you already support the community, as I do, you can be cool and start calling yourself an official ally! Congratulations!
You can, and if you're interested, absolutely should, attend WorldPride 2028 in Cape Town if you're an ally.
Working with the community, and attending Pride-related events, is not just for members of the LGBTQIA+ community. They're open to allies as well. And, importantly, our presence is powerful! It shows, publicly, that we value the community, support the advancement of their rights, and allows us to interact with the community's members, to make it strongly known that we're on their side.
To that end, I marched alongside my best friend, and his girlfriend, in the 2024 Cape Town Pride March, and attended the Green Point Track (festival ground) event afterwards. It was the highlight of the year for me, by far!
What's Going to Be Happening Throughout WorldPride 2028?
A lot of exciting things!
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To find out more about WorldPride, you can visit their website here.
However, WorldPride 2028 aside, InterPride believes in something I also do.
Pride should not be something celebrated just one day a year. It should be an ongoing thing. I'm an ally every single day, in everything that I do.
On InterPride's side, in the spirit of that notion, they work with Pride 365, one of InterPride's global partners. Pride 365 chose its name to symbolize the mission of supporting the LGBTQIA+ community year-round, not just during Pride season. The organization works with businesses that are committed to making the lives of the LGBTQIA+ community better, both within their own businesses, and in wider society. You can learn more about Pride 365 here.
As I do, I strongly recommend that you give your support to the LGBTQIA+ on a continuous basis. Yes, taking part in an annual Pride march is great! But, support can be given continuously in ways like:
- Advocating on behalf of, and defending, the LGBTQIA+ community in daily conversations,
- Speaking out against bigotry, defamation, degradation, and marginalization directed towards the community,
- Correcting people when you hear them using slurs (hurtful, perjorative terms) directed towards the LGBTQIA+ community,
- Asking for (it's okay to ask) and then using (even if you make mistakes sometimes - trying your best is the point) people's preferred pronouns,
- Lobbying your local and national politicians (during and outside periods of requests for public commentary), to get them to support bills that advance the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community,
- Participating in and/or organizing events that occur outside Pride season,
- Being a friend to, and support for, members of the LGBTQIA+ community who would like that from you, and,
- Stating, out and proud, that you're an ally of the LGBTQIA+ community, as I regularly do.
How Can I Support the LGBTQIA+ Community?
The LGBTQIA+ community is a historically marginalized community that has, and continues, to face a lot of discrimination all around the world.
It's a community that has fought hard, and proudly, for many decades, for their civil rights, equal recognition under the law, and deserved respect from and equality within our global society.
It's definitely a community, full of love, that deserves our support.
As an ally myself, supporting the community has been the cause I've cared most about for as far back as I can remember.
To become a member of InterPride, visit this page.
Here's a list of organizations, with their respective home countries in brackets, that you could support, depending on where you live, and which local communities you'd like to donate your money, time, and/or expertise to:
- Triangle Project (South Africa)
- OUT (South Africa)
- Gender DynamiX (South Africa)
- Pride Foundation Australia (Australia)
- Minus18 (Australia)
- RainbowYOUTH (New Zealand)
- Stonewall (The United Kingdom)
- LGBT Ireland (Ireland)
- Taiwan Rainbow Equality Platform Association (Taiwan)
- RainboWelcome (France)
- Arcigay (Italy)
- AEGAL (Spain)
- ILGA (Portugal)
- LSVD (Germany)
- Transgender Law Center (The United States)
If you'd like to learn about commonly-used terminology relating to the community, feel free to visit this page.
Change, progress, and support starts with understanding and caring, which is then followed by acting. Together, we can achieve equality for the community, worldwide.
If you'd like to, at any point, reach out to me to find out more about the community, what being an ally means, info about WorldPride 2028 in Cape Town, or for information about how you can support your local LGBTQIA+ community, please feel free to do so via the details on this page.
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Informational sources for this article: 1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 7; 8; 9; 10; 11; 12; 13; 14; 15; 16; 17; 18; 19; 20; 21; 22; 23; 24; 25; 26.
Image sources for this article: 1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 7; 8; 9; 10. (Note: either some or all images have been converted to formats other than their originals, as well as resized, to better suit the article).