Copenhagen Set to Host WorldPride in 2021

Back in 2017, Copenhagen was selected to host WorldPride 2021. The organizers will be using WorldPride as a platform to promote LGBTQ equality around the world, and the Danish government ensures that they will support the efforts to deliver a “spectacular event”.

It was down to Copenhagen and Fort Lauderdale when more than 200 delegates decided on the host city of WorldPride 2021. Copenhagen won the final vote by almost two-thirds of the vote, and so the global LGBTQ community can look forward to gathering in what Lonely Planet recently named the world’s most LGBTQ friendly place.

"We’re ecstatic at the prospect of hosting WorldPride," said Lars Christian Østergreen, managing director at Happy Copenhagen. "WorldPride 2021 will put human rights, diversity and inclusivity front, and center to promote equality around the world."

WorldPride will be hosted in Copenhagen August 12-22, 2021 as a global celebration of equality and inclusivity. The City Hall Square will serve as a village for the LGBT+ community and others wishing to learn more about the event and its causes. The culmination of the event will also be a mega World Pride Parade in both Copenhagen and Malmö, which is located across the Öresund Bridge in Sweden.

A global mega-event

Besides hosting WorldPride, Copenhagen is also bidding to host EuroGames in 2021. The vision is to combine the two events into one mega-event named Copenhagen 2021, which will feature a massive pride parade, a large human rights conference and hundreds of inclusive sporting events. The event will include more than 5,000 athletes competing in 29 different sports.

The two events combined are simply referred to as Copenhagen 2021. Her Royal Highness the Crown Princess Mary of Denmark serves as a patron.

"Uniting WorldPride and EuroGames in the same city will be historic," said Lars Christian Østergreen. "By combing the playfulness of pride, the competitiveness of sports and the seriousness of human rights, we want Copenhagen 2021 to be a transformative journey for all participants."

The Copenhagen bid was backed by many cities across Greater Copenhagen, including the Lord Mayor of Copenhagen and the Mayor of Malmö. Even the Danish government was backing the efforts to bring WorldPride to the Danish capital, having signed a letter of support and produced a video message from the Danish Prime Minister addressing the delegates.

"I am sure that the organizers will deliver a spectacular event, and we will do our best to support them in doing so," said Karen Ellemann, the Danish Minister of Equality. "Denmark has been at the forefront of LGBTI equality for decades, and by hosting this event we will once again throw our full weight behind the important notion that LGBTI rights are human rights."

Copenhagen 2021 is the mega-event that combines EuroGames and WorldPride for the first time ever. The organization invites the whole world to a spectacular celebration of sportsmanship, LGBTQ rights, and love – wrapped up in a rainbow-colored pride party where #YouAreIncluded.