Albuquerque Pride canceled due to COVID-19 pandemic
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.- Albuquerque Pride, which celebrates the LGBTQ+ community, is the latest event to be canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. Craig Laberge-Esparza, president of Albuquerque Pride, said they made the difficult decision to cancel the parade, PrideFest at Expo New Mexico, and all other events for pride week, which typically takes place in June.
"We just knew that for the safety and health of our community we had to go ahead and make that decision now," Laberge-Esparza said. "Postponing it did nothing by waste time, money, effort and the community safety is jeopardized if we just continued to wait to make that decision until May.”
Laberge-Esparza said they’re looking at other options to still safely celebrate pride in other ways-- possibly a virtual celebration.
“We understand how this impacts our community. It impacts so much of our community. We know that there are so many people out there that this is the only time they can go out and feel included, to celebrate with their chosen family and really feel like they are part of something bigger," Laberge-Esparza said. "This is the one day of the year they feel safe to do that, and we really hated to take that away but for the safety and health of the community at large it really made no other sense but to cancel the event at this time”
https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/albuquerque-pride-canceled-due-to-covid-19-pandemic/5696973/?cat=500