Q Toon: Death Be Not Pride

I return to syndication with a cartoon that won't work in all markets. Several communities around the world have already cancelled their Pride celebrations, while others are determined to go ahead with theirs.

In Europe, where the coronavirus took hold earlier than in the U.S., the effects are already being felt, with Bucharest Pride becoming the first Pride rally to postpone and Trans Pride Scotland canceling outright. And hardly without reason: while any public gatherings may prove risky over the next few months, the LGBTQ community is particularly vulnerable. As GLMA: Health Professionals Advocating LGBTQ Equality points out, the LGBTQ community experiences higher rates of HIV and cancer, both of which weaken the immune system; additionally, the community's increased rate of tobacco use means that COVID-19 — the coronavirus-caused disease that is particularly dangerous for those with respiratory issues — is statistically more troubling for those in the LGBTQ community.

Health and safety have to be prime considerations, but so does the fact that these festivals cost a lot of money up front. That money may be hard to come by this year — which may please those people who always complain about how Pride festivals have become so commercialized. (To whom Christmas says, "Hold my beer.")

Many Pride festivals are scheduled in June, to coincide with the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots. This being the 51st anniversary of the riots, it was to have been the 50th anniversary of several larger cities' first Pride Festivals, and special observances had been long in preparation.

If everyone can just resist the temptation to flock to Georgia's tattoo parlors, our country might be able to return to normal by June. It's impossible to know with certainty at this point, however; and we do seem to have an extremely vocal minority in the U.S. who are determined to reopen the floodgates before the rain subsides.

Some locales, where June weather can be prohibitively hot, schedule their Pride festivals earlier in the year. Those celebrations have almost certainly been cancelled, postponed, or moved to virtual reality by now. Phoenix's Pride Festival for example, would have been the first weekend in April, but has been pushed back to November. (I do wish I had thought to have the first dialogue balloon read "cancel or postpone"!)

New York's Pride events have been cancelled outright, as have Pride events in San Francisco, New Orleans, and Iowa City. Chicago's Pride Fest website promises an announcement coming soon.

I've been following festival scheduling changes in nearby Milwaukee, the "City of Festivals." Pridefest is not the only Milwaukee festival that won't be held in June this year (an alternative date has not been announced). Festa Italiana has been cancelled, and Polish Fest is up in the air. German Fest would have been in late July. Ethnic festivals scheduled in August are continuing with their planned events. Summerfest, "The Big Gig," has been postponed to September from its customary weeks at the end of June and the start of July.