Ottawa, Ontario – Capital Pride is excited to bring you the 2021 Capital Pride Festival presented by TD Bank Group, taking place August 22 – 29, 2021. This year’s festival will include both virtual and in person, allowing participants to enjoy programming at home and outdoors. This year’s celebrations, themed “We Still Demand!”, honours the first large-scale queer rights demonstration in Canada that took place in 1971. On the 50th anniversary of the iconic protest, we remember all the voices that helped us achieve and enjoy the rights and freedoms we cherish today.
“Pride is not cancelled; Pride will never be cancelled! We are working hard to bring an energetic and educational Capital Pride Festival that celebrates what we have overcome as a community, while educating and advocating for the work that lies ahead,” said Osmel B. Guerra Maynes, Executive Director of Capital Pride.
The festival builds upon Capital Pride’s prior educational programming and includes panel discussions on a variety of issues facing our community. We are also excited to welcome Dominique Jackson, Star of FX TV’s Pose and Starz TV’s American Gods; Rodney Diverlus, a movement artist, performance-maker, artivist, and co-founder of Black Lives Matter — Canada; Danny Ramadan, a Syrian Canadian award-winning novelist; and jaye Simpson a two -Spirit Oji-Cree of the Buffalo Clan with roots in Sapotaweyak and Skownan Cree nation who often writes about being queer in the welfare system, as well as being queer and indigenous.
Our annual Parade will be presented virtually and aims to capture the energy that is expected of Pride. This event will be broadcasted on Rogers TV with Scarlett Bobo (Canada Drag Race finalist) and Ottawa’s very own Sandra from KISS 103.5 FM hosting the parade. In partnership with the United Way East Ontario and Gen Next, Community Builders Awards will be presented to 2SLGBGTQ+ Community leaders who have made an impact in our communities.
Capital Pride is proud to have curated a list of local and regional 2SLGBTQ+ artisans and community vendors that will be participating in our Virtual Queer Market. Delivered in an innovative 3D format, the market can be visited on any computer, smartphone or tablet.
Of course, it wouldn’t be Pride without some fabulous drag performers! This year we are thrilled to be providing opportunities to local drag performers as well as welcoming drag performers from across the country and around the world to our virtual stage. This year’s Pride Pageant features 11 competitors from the National Capital Region competing to be 2021 Capital Pride Royalty. The festival also includes a drag cooking show, drag bingo with Kandy Muse (finalist on RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 13), panel discussion about mental health hosted by 2020 Mr. Capital Pride Cyril Cinder.
Two in-person events are taking place. Our inaugural drag brunch will be hosted by La La Ri (Miss Congeniality & Contestant on RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 13). The 2SLGBTQ+ Human Rights Vigil will return in person and centres 2-Spirit and indigiqueer voices. Further opportunities for in-person programming continue to be explored.
We also would like to thank our sponsors for this year’s festival. Presenting Sponsor: TD Bank Group; Champion Sponsors: Rogers Communications (Rogers TV, KISS 105.3 FM, CityNews 101.1 FM), Loblaws Inc., IBM, Narcity, Air Canada; Advocate sponsors: Giant Tiger, Vizzy Seltzer, ViiV Healthcare, Skip the Dishes; Unifier sponsors: Nokia Canada, KPMG, TJX Canada, Nordstrom, Point 3D; Supporter sponsors: FjallRaven, Ottawa General Hospital, The Bank Street BIA, The Home Depot, IKEA, Conseil écoles publiques de l’Est l’Ontario, The National Art Centre (NAC), The Ottawa Art Gallery (OAG) and many more.
Visit capitalpride.ca/virtual-pride-festival/ to see what Capital Pride has in store for its 2021 virtual Festival. Stay tuned to the Capital Pride social media channels, as more exciting events and headline entertainers will be announced in the upcoming weeks.
About Capital Pride:
Capital Pride creates opportunities to celebrate, advocate, educate and connect people, respecting the full diversity of the 2SLGBTQ+ community in Canada’s national capital region. The 2021 Capital Pride Festival takes place August 22 – 29, 2021.
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