Antarctica to hold first-ever Pride event in June

Antarctica will host its first ever LGBTQ pride month event this month.

The ungoverned continent, which was dubbed the first gay-friendly continent by humanitarian organization Planting Peace, will hold the event on June 9, according to Mic News. 

Employees based at the McMurdo Station, Antarctica’s largest research station, will hold the celebration at the station’s bar. The event will feature games and movies, Shawn Waldron, an organizer who works with the station’s support crew, told Earther. 

The 10 employees of McMurdo Station set the stage for the upcoming LGBTQ pride event by braving the cold to hold up a rainbow flag, documenting the occasion with photographs in April.

My new article for @NewNowNext about Pride in Antarctica. https://t.co/lvgRgFCdsc

— Mike Miksche (@MikeMiksche) May 24, 2018

Only 133 employees remain in the area during the off-season when temperatures are too frigid for scientists to work safely.

{mosads}

“With crackdowns and rollbacks to LGBTQ equality happening around the globe, it’s heartening to see this showing of pride from one of the most remote places on the planet,” Zeke Stokes, a vice president at GLAAD, told Mic. “Whether it’s 10 people or 10,000 people, being visible and showing LGBTQ pride moves acceptance forward and can change hearts and minds.” 

Waldron told LGBT news outlet NewNowNext last month that, before coming to Antarctica, he had feared being the only LGBT person.

“My biggest fear before I left was, I’m going to be the only gay person, there’s going to be no one else here. I was wrong,” he told the outlet. “We had a few LGBTQ social events that people showed up to. Because it’s such a small community, it’s easy to find out who is and who isn’t in the LGBTQ community.”

Evan Townsend, one of the event’s organizers and a researcher at the station, told NewNowNext that it’s important “to see that there are queer people out there who are proud of their queerness and that in no way inhibits them from living these adventures.”