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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nWhat motivated you to work that much for an umbrella organisation such as EPOA besides your daily full-time job and volunteering at pride organisations?<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Idiocy \u2026 (laughs) \u2026 No \u2026 I\u2019ve always thought that volunteer organisations are much stronger and have more power when they work together. And the vast majority of Pride organisations are entirely run by volunteers. Even when you just share ideas and problems, you can find out how someone else just doubts the problem. You can also share resources, share equipment: I know that through pride networks that they have lent each other megaphones and high-vis jackets and all that kind of stuff you need to run an event. That kind of cooperation, I think, is really important. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I think EPOA has the potential of being much stronger in that way and so I was quite excited to join, observe, help and see how I can be part of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What were the most important benefits the European LGBTIQ* community inures of EPOA in the past \/ is inuring now \/ do you want them to inure in the future?<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
I think the most important benefits in the past have been the way that EPOA has enabled small grass-root organisations to get Pride off the ground, because it can provide that networking, it can provide the link to other organisations and to other people who didn\u2019t do the same thing in the past and I think increasingly, certainly over the last 5 years, EPOA has had a much stronger role in advocacy – not just for the pride movement but for LGBTIQ* issues generally. Because now that EPOA has virtually all the capital city prides as a member, as well as many, many smaller prides, it\u2019s a power block, it\u2019s a powerful voice. So, when we talk to the European Parliament or the Council of Europe or even just national governments, when we talk to the government in Poland as much as they don\u2019t like what we say, they can\u2019t just dismiss it because there is power in the movement that we represent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And I think in the future, EPOA will have an even stronger role because the rollback of LGBTIQ* rights in (South-)Eastern Europe and some parts of Central Europe, that kind of voice, will be more necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because Copenhagen is smaller, do you think it\u2019s more present and less in danger of foundering as it could in a megacity with more than 10 million inhabitants?<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
I think in London, if you are away from Westend\/Zone 1, you could potentially miss the fact that Pride is going on. There are posters in every London Underground station and there\u2019s lots of commercial activity, but decorating the city only focusses on the very centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because Copenhagen and especially its city centre is a lot smaller and a lot of events are taking place outside the city centre (e.g., all the EuroGame events), you will see a lot more rainbows across a greater area in Copenhagen. And still, it will be the biggest ever LGBTIQ* event in Scandinavia. There\u2019s lots of news coverage lined up and the main morning TV programme will be broadcasting it every morning. It\u2019s really well integrated into the media landscape. So, I think it will be quite difficult to miss in Copenhagen but easier to miss in London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2020, we experienced the first digital pride. What are the most important qualities this kind of pride can exclusively offer?<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
The thing with Global Pride 2020 and any digital pride is: because it\u2019s entirely online, anybody can take part. Whether you are in Berlin or out with your family, you can still watch it. You can still feel like you\u2019re taking part. If you live in Uganda or Saudi Arabia, you could still engage in it in a much better way than ever before. I think entirely digital events can never replace being there on the streets, but it would be a mistake if we rolled back to where we were before the pandemic and never did digital events. So, they are really important alongside the \u201cbeing there\u201d events because they allow us to even reach people who are disabled, who don\u2019t like crowds and so on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2021, you are planning WorldPride for an unplannable time. What are the biggest challenges and what can we learn for the future from this?<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Obviously the biggest challenge for us has been uncertainty: We couldn\u2019t postpone WorldPride until next year, because if we did, it would only have been six months to the WorldPride event in Sydney and that would have been unfair on them. Also, we\u2019ll be having EuroGames and EuroPride next year. If we cancelled, it would have bankrupted the Copenhagen Pride because we would have had to pay back millions of euros on sponsorship, and that money has been spent \u2013 events like these are expensive. We have also not been able to make firm plans because we had to wait for the government and what their decision would be as to reopening in August. They made the decision at the beginning of May, and we were able to announce the changes on 17th May and that\u2019s only three months away from the event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From the start of the pandemic until now, we have been planning three events: the full event, in case there is no more pandemic, a scalable event that might have been smaller, where we can change or cancel some parts, and also an entirely digital event. So, every bit of planning we did, had to be for all three events. Only after the government\u2019s decision were we confident about the second (scalable) event. So, we had a lot more planning work, more than we would have asked for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Three months before EuroPride Vienna 2019, you had pretty firm plans and you could tell people what was going on, e.g., this is when Regenbogenparade is going to happen, these are the artists performing and these are the bars that will be open. Three months before WorldPride, we are now looking for venues to include bars because we had to wait for the government approvals for so long. We also need a big park with a big screen where you can watch the concerts because their venue is so small, and we haven\u2019t even confirmed this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What does this mean for the queer gastronomy sector in Copenhagen and Malm\u00f6?<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Most of them have been closed for a year now, of course. From our perspective, it should have been a fundraising opportunity, but because of the pandemic, they are struggling to survive. So, I think they will be super busy, they\u2019ll be making lots of money, but we couldn\u2019t ask them for money because it\u2019s not there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What about the artist performances? Will there also be an opportunity for local queer artists to present something?<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
We are talking to major artists about performing, people you have heard of. Getting them here, especially from the US, is quite difficult. But also, most of them haven\u2019t done any kind of work they usually do for a year now, so they are really excited to get an invitation. We just have to hope that the situation will allow this to happen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Friday night, local queer artists will be performing. And all in all, the stage programme will include 95 % queer artists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because the possibility of having some rave will be less, do you think Pride will be going back to its roots? What does this mean for the Pride\u2019s intentions, politically and as to human rights, to balance the goals of maximum visibility and loudness and also to bring across the Queer Human Rights message?<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Lots of prides will be going back to a more political message, to demonstrating, partly because of the impacts of the pandemic, but also partly for practical reasons because in most cities, the authorities can stop you from doing a parade, because it\u2019s a performance, it\u2019s a spectacle, but they can\u2019t stop you from staging a Human Rights demonstration which is within guidelines. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some people will really like the fact that there won\u2019t be these big corporate participants, but I think what we have to recognise is the fact that if we don\u2019t have them taking part, one of the biggest impacts would be that we won\u2019t be having the money to keep Pride free for the majority of people taking part. This is why we shouldn\u2019t throw out the idea of having corporates because I think businesses taking part is a good thing. It allows them to say to their employees globally, \u201cThis is what we believe in!\u201d, even in countries where we can\u2019t have Pride. This is really important. So, I don\u2019t want us to lose that next year or whenever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If Pride doesn\u2019t go back to its roots but to where it was on the eve of the pandemic, what other options does the queer political movement have to be more visible?<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
Pride is still a political demonstration and it\u2019s absolutely reliant on the activists who want to use it as a political demonstration to just make sure that they are as loud, as visible and as prominent as they can be. Because their message is just as important as the one of every other activist group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The fact is, they have to make sure that their message is clear, that they\u2019ve got enough people to communicate it and make that part of the parade their own. In this way, people notice what they\u2019re saying, take photos and post them on the internet. Therefore, people see it and think, \u201cwhat\u2019s that all about?\u201d. And then they learn, for example, that PrEP is not available for free in many countries, and also all the different things people want to campaign about. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I\u2019d love to see more political statements at Pride, but the community has to be relied upon to do this. Regenbogenparade is only a platform that makes sure that the streets are closed, that the police know about it and that HOSI Wien has received permission to do it. But what happens at Regenbogenparade itself is up to the community, it\u2019s their event. If community groups think there\u2019s not enough politics in the parade, as far as I\u2019m concerned, that\u2019s their fault. I\u2019d tell them this: \u201cYou should have made sure that you were there because it\u2019s there for you. If you\u2019re not there, someone else will be. So get in there and make your point!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Interview mit Steve Taylor, Teamleiter bei WorldPride und EuroGames Kopenhagen \/ Malm\u00f6 2021 und Vorstandsmitglied European Pride Organisers Association (EPOA) J\u00e4hrlich wird eine europ\u00e4ische Pride zur EuroPride \u2013 es sein denn, die zweij\u00e4hrlich stattfindende WorldPride kommt nach Europa, wie z.B dieses Jahr nach Kopenhagen und Malm\u00f6. Die Lizenz f\u00fcr die EuroPride wird seit 1992 von […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":26,"featured_media":991,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[49,79],"class_list":["post-989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-schwerpunkt","tag-lambda-183","tag-pride"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lambdanachrichten.at\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lambdanachrichten.at\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lambdanachrichten.at\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lambdanachrichten.at\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/26"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lambdanachrichten.at\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=989"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lambdanachrichten.at\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":993,"href":"https:\/\/lambdanachrichten.at\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/989\/revisions\/993"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lambdanachrichten.at\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lambdanachrichten.at\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lambdanachrichten.at\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lambdanachrichten.at\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}