Austin Pride Postpones Its 2020 Celebration for a Year

Sad but not unsurprising news hit Monday night as Austin Pride’s board announced via Instagram that this year’s 30th Pride celebrations – planned previously for Aug. 15 – will be postponed until August 2021.

Celebrants at Austin Pride in 2017 (Photo by Jana Birchum)

Concerns about COVID-19 and creating a safe, healthy environment for the LGBTQIA community weighed heavy on the minds of Austin Pride’s board since March, according to their full statement. When the city started to put a damper on large gatherings, issuing stay-at-home orders, the initial reaction from Austin Pride was a relief that their event was far off in the future. If one looks through their announcements proceeding this one, the energy is markedly optimistic and event preparation seemed to be going on as planned. As time passed, however, they came to acknowledge that the pandemic conditions wouldn’t allow for the same safe event put on for 30 years prior and chose to postpone Pride.

In their full statement, Austin Pride stated, “This is not the news we’d hoped to bring you ... while we mourn that we will not be able to come together, we are reminded that Austin Pride began 30 years ago in another pandemic, one that has disproportionately affected the LGBTQIA+ community, especially amongst people of color.”