Digital Pride: The only global LGBTI Pride is back and even bigger

Digital Pride is back from 23 to 28 April. And this year our message – that all LGBTI people around the world deserve freedom, equality and protection – will be louder than ever.

We’ll be displaying that message on huge screens in Times Square, New York and Canary Wharf, London, thanks to our friends at Thomson Reuters.

We will be Tweeting it to millions of people via our social media Thunderclap, thanks to the many celebrities, organisations and influencers who support our community.

And we will be rubber-stamping it onto the front of millions of envelopes and postcards put through the UK postal system, thanks to our sponsors at Royal Mail.

We call this our Millions Of Us message. After all, there are hundreds of millions of LGBTI people around the world, not to mention our friends, families and allies. And if we all pull together, we can build a better world for everyone.

What is Digital Pride?

Digital Pride is a Pride anyone can take part in, provided you can get online.

You can be part of Digital Pride if you live in a country where your sexuality is criminalized. You can enjoy it if your nearest Pride is hundreds of miles away or is difficult for you to access for other reasons. And you can even take part from your bedroom in your pyjamas if you want.

Last year, Ramy from Tunisia made a video with his friends for Digital Pride. He told us:

‘In Arab and North African countries, it’s not possible to do gay Pride in the street. So this is an opportunity to speak freely. All you need is a computer or a mobile phone…’

Beyond pure visibility, the other great thing about Digital Pride is that it provides a platform for politics, campaigning, art, culture, music, fashion and so much more.

In 2018, we will be doing a naked photo shoot to highlight body confidence issues, creating our first ever Digital Pride anthem and telling stories from queer activists who are fighting to repeal the laws banning gay sex.

And there’s so much more too. For example, we’ll be standing in solidarity with LGBTI people in Turkey who had their film festival censored by broadcasting the films online.

Digital Pride only started in 2016 and that year it reached 25million people. That more than doubled to 55million in 2017. And we expect 2018 to be even bigger.

How you can take part

One of the first things you can do, if you have a Twitter account, is to join our Thunderclap. If you sign up here, you’ll automatically join us in broadcasting this message on Thursday 26 April:

‘All LGBTI+ people deserve freedom, equality and protection. I am one of Millions of Us fighting for this world.’

And you can hear more stories, see videos and take part in live events by visiting the Digital Pride homepage and following us on Facebook and Twitter.

I hope if you take part you’ll be inspired by how powerful our LGBTI community around the world can be. We just need to pull together.

Thank you, in advance, for supporting Digital Pride and helping us make 2018 a record-breaking year.

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