LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As part of its ongoing efforts to support the Black LGBTQI community, Grindr has partnered with Global Black Pride, Global Black Gay Men Connect (GBGMC), and Black LGBTQI community-based organizations across the globe to bring the second edition of Global Black Pride. This year, the event’s theme will be “What About Us” and will be primarily virtual (with a small in-person gathering in Los Angeles) and span across Africa, the Caribbean, North America, and Europe on June 18th, 2021 at 11:00am - 8:00pm EST on Grindr’s YouTube Channel.
“We’re so excited to partner with Global Black Pride on the second annual Black Pride Event,” said Alex Black, Grindr’s Director of Marketing. “We are always looking for new ways to empower and improve the lives of the LGBTQI people across the globe, and we look forward to celebrating the Black LGBTQI community with an incredible lineup of speakers and performers from around the world.”
“Our theme speaks to the frustration and disappointment that our community continues to feel,” said Micheal Ighodaro, co-founder of Global Black Pride. “Last year was the deadliest year on record for trans and gender nonconforming individuals, with at least 40 murdered in the US and many more across the globe, with many victims being Black and Brown trans women. HIV also continues to disproportionately affect Black LGBTQI, new anti-LGBTQI laws in Uganda have been put into place, and just a few weeks ago nearly two dozen members of the LGBTQI community in Ghana were arrested. This year we are saying together, enough is enough.”
Founded in 2020, Global Black Pride has become the single largest Black LGBTQI gathering across the globe, committed to using a platform to honor our communities’ persistence and bravery in the face of what has been an incredibly difficult year. Global Black Pride was founded by Global Black Gay Men Connect, a nonprofit organization based in New York City. As a collective, GBGMC fosters an activist-led movement with the goal of building local power to intervene in discrimination and violence inflicted on Black gay communities, including trans and non-binary men wherever they live. The organization strives to facilitate intentional involvement by engaging Black gay men across the world and developing their capacity to rapidly intervene on human right issues surrounding mental and physical health, police brutality, immigration, and general well-being. This event is co-organized by Black LGBTQI community-based organizations from across the globe. You can learn more at info@gbgmc.org.
Global Black Pride is also launching the Pride 2021 Artist Fund, an artist fund that will be distributed to artists and speakers participating at this year’s event. Now more than ever, it is important to offer financial assistance to Black artists across the globe who have been hit hard during the COVID-19 crisis. If you would like to donate to the Fund, more information can be found here.
ABOUT GRINDR
With nearly 5 million daily active users in virtually every country in the world, Grindr has grown to become a fundamental part of the queer community since its launch in 2009. The company continues to expand its ecosystem to enable gay, bi, trans and queer people to connect, express themselves, and discover teh world around them. Grindr is headquartered in West Hollywood, California. The Grindr app is available on the App Store and Google Pay.