Atlanta Pride Parade's 50th Anniversary Not Canceled: Organizers

ATLANTA, GA — Organizers for the Atlanta Pride Celebration shared on social media Wednesday that the 50th Atlanta Pride Celebration hasn’t been canceled. Despite reports that the city has banned the parade, the committee says that’s not true.

“Some of you may have seen a news report yesterday stating that our Festival and Parade have been canceled for 2020 — this is not accurate,” they wrote. “We continue the work to plan for our 50th anniversary. As a part of our planning, we remain in frequent contact with numerous government offices and officials to receive the latest updates. We confirmed that our dates are still being held at Piedmont Park as recently [Tuesday] afternoon.”

The Atlanta City Council voted on Monday during the council meeting to not issue permits for annual parades, according to WSB. The outlet reported that conventions for Dragon Con and the popular pride parade will still happen, but not the parades.

City Council president Felecia Moore said the decision is about keeping people safe.

"We're not going to add events or do anything that is going to bring people together," Moore said. "That just doesn't make sense."

The Atlanta Pride Committee said the city is continuing to work with them on the parade and other events scheduled for fall 2020.

“If and when it is prudent to do so, the permitting process will re-open, and we will be ready to move forward in that process,” they said.

They said they are monitoring the health and legal changes and will notify the public if any plans change regarding the scheduled event.

“If we reach a point where we are certain that it is not in the best interest of our community or public health to hold our Annual Festival and Parade as planned, we will communicate that through official channels as well as any alternate plans for celebrating our 50th anniversary,” they said.

The city hasn’t said when it’ll start back issuing new permits. Officials tell the station that they have to get a handle on the virus before there’s any talk of parades and festivals.