Venice shows its love for the LGBTQ community Friday morning during an opening ceremony to Venice Pride. Photo: Venice Pride.
VENICE — The world’s largest Gay Pride flag is waving over Venice Beach.
The 1,410-square-foot flag was hoisted Friday morning as part of an opening ceremony of Venice Pride.
Previously, the largest Gay Pride flag measured 1,033 square feet and soared over Nelson Mandela Bay in Port Elizabeth, South Africa.
LARGEST GAY PRIDE FLAG
The new flag will fly over the Venice Beach Boardwalk through Sunday, the last day of Venice Pride, and then will be sent to San Francisco from June 23 to 25 for the flag’s 40th anniversary, the same weekend as San Francisco Pride. The flag was created in 1978 to help unite San Francisco’s LGBTQ community.
“As individual Pride festivals, we exist separately, but this initiative will give us the opportunity to link with global Pride activities over the next couple of years,” Grant Turck, executive director-founder-president of Venice Pride, told Q Voice News in April.
GAY PRIDE FLAG PARTNERSHIP
Venice Pride and the AIDS Healthcare Foundation partnered to create the flag. After San Francisco, the giant Gay Pride flag will be sent to eight domestic and international cities for their Pride celebrations as part of a “United We Pride” tour. The flag’s last stop will be New York City in June 2019.
The world’s largest Gay Pride flag is waving over Venice Beach. The 1,410-square-foot flag was hoisted Friday morning as part of an opening ceremony of Venice Pride. Photo: Venice Pride.
The AIDS Healthcare Foundation, an official healthcare partner with Venice Pride, paid to manufacture the flag and will send it around the globe.
It hasn’t been decided yet what will happen to the flag after it leaves New York City, Turck said.
GAY PRIDE FLAG TOUR
Here are the dates and cities for the “United We Pride” flag tour.
June 23-25 in San Francisco
June 30 in Paris
July 7 in London
July 28 in Berlin
August 5 in Vancouver
March 2, 2019 in Sydney, Australia
April 1-7, 2019 in Miami
April 26-May 5, 2019 in Tokyo
June 14-23, 2019 in New York City
