Global Pride Crossing is an international Pride festival set to take place within Animal Crossing: New Horizons

With in-person Pride events cancelled this year, Global Pride has turned to the world of video games for an international festival within Animal Crossing: New Horizons. This will be an official part of Global Pride 2020, which is organised by Pride groups from across the globe.

Global Pride Crossing, as the festival is known, aims to offer a safe space for people of any gender, orientation, colour, or ethnicity to celebrate who they are as part of LGBTI+ and ally communities. It's also intended to provide a platform to "empower individuals to learn, express their identities, and connect with others".

The celebrations will begin this Thursday, June 18th, and will run for the remainder of Pride Month. The main attraction is the specially-built Pride island, which will showcase a rainbow march, a hall of fame, a catwalk, and a range of Pride-themed clothing. Players are also being encouraged to host their own Pride parades within New Horizons.

On June 27th, a number of Twitch creators will livestream their own game sessions to share their island and visit other players', all while raising funds for the Pride movement and Pride organisations affected by COVID-19.

The event has been organised by We Are Social Singapore alongside InterPride and the European Pride Organisers Association.

"Pride is an incredibly important moment in the calendar for LGBTI+ people, as it offers the community a chance to freely express their identity in a very public way. However, we all knew that this year's Pride celebrations were never going to be the same, with communities all over the world still in various stages of lockdown," said Andrew Baker, co-president of InterPride.

"So when We Are Social approached us with the idea to create a virtual space, using a platform already popular within the LGBTI+ community, where people could safely come together to express and celebrate their identities – we jumped at the chance."

Global Pride Crossing also aims to show support for the Black Lives Matter movement in a number of ways, including by resharing BLM content. More information can be found on Global Pride Crossing's Twitter or Global Pride's official Facebook.