General admission and VIP Experience tickets go on sale
on Friday, July 15, at 2:00 p.m. at www.PHOENIXPRIDE.org

PHOENIX — Phoenix Pride has announced the headlining performers and ticket on-sale information for the 41st Annual Phoenix Pride Festival, taking place this Oct. 15-16 at Steele Indian School Park (300 E. Indian School Rd.) in Phoenix.

       The festival, presented by Bud Light Seltzer and Embry Health, will run from noon-9 p.m. on both Saturday and Sunday, and will feature more than 60 acres of family-friendly entertainment on seven stages, as well as the premium Festival VIP Experience. A crowd of more than 50,000 is expected to attend the event, throughout the weekend.

        The organization has revealed that the Festival Main Stage headliners for Saturday, Oct. 15 will be singer-songwriter and “The Four” finalist VINCINT at 7 p.m., followed by current pop singing sensation Gayle at 8 p.m. The festival will close out on Sunday, Oct. 16, at 8 p.m., with a performance by longtime vocal powerhouse act En Vogue.

     In addition, Phoenix Pride announced the exclusive entertainment for this year’s Festival V.I.P. Experience. Appearing throughout the weekend to host the V.I.P. Experience will be drag legend Sherry Vine. Appearing Saturday in the V.I.P. will be renown Elton John tribute performer Sir Elton, followed on Sunday by “RuPaul’s Drag Race” veteran Kimora Blac. Set lakeside, in the heart of Steele Indian School Park, the Phoenix Pride Festival V.I.P. Experience includes an air-conditioned tented lounge and show space, as well as access to special up-front viewing sections at the Festival Main Stage, limited drinks and included food, and upgraded executive restrooms, throughout the weekend. The V.I.P. Experience is available to festival guests ages 18 and over.

          The theme for the 41st Phoenix Pride Festival is “Be You! Believe in Yourself!”

         General admission and V.I.P. Experience tickets for the festival will go ON SALE on Friday, July 15, at 2 p.m. (Arizona Local Time), exclusively online at WWW.PHOENIXPRIDE.ORG, which also includes additional details regarding the festival, including accessibility, parking, admission and other information. Phoenix Pride is proud to announce that ticket prices for the festival, at all levels, HAVE NOT INCREASED OVER LAST YEAR’S PRICES. (Detailed ticket information is attached.)

        “This is the most exciting time of the year for us, as we switch into full gear for our signature annual event, the Phoenix Pride Festival, this year marking its 41st anniversary in the Valley,” Executive Director of Phoenix Pride Mike Fornelli stated. “It has been a trying year for our community in Arizona, with renewed fights under way to protect the members of our community, so the opportunity to come back together as a community is more important than ever.

         “The safe space that the Pride Festival creates is not only a celebration, but for many in our community, it is the only truly safe space they experience throughout the year. We never lose sight of how important that is, and we are always working to make the Phoenix Pride Festival accessible to as much of our community as possible. So we are really pleased to announce that, despite the ever-present impact of current economic conditions, we have not raised the price of festival admission, at any ticket level. Through the support of our generous sponsors, who are genuine year-round partners, we are pleased to do this for the community, and we look forward to seeing both new and familiar faces when we gather back together in October.”

        “This year, more than ever, the Phoenix Pride Festival is going to be a sanctuary as well as a celebration,” President of the Phoenix Pride Board of Directors Tait Moline added. “Recent threats and policy moves against our community serve as constant reminders of the important work Phoenix Pride does to defend not only our rights, but our very existence. In October, we will celebrate the successes we’ve had in those efforts as well as come together to strengthen our community and our allies for the challenges that still lie ahead of us. As it has been for the past 41 years, this year’s Phoenix Pride Festival will not only be fun and enjoyable, but powerful as well.”

          In addition to the festival, Phoenix Pride has also announced the 41st Phoenix Pride Parade, presented by Embry Health, taking place on Sunday, Oct. 16, beginning at 10 a.m. at Thomas Road and Third Street, heading north to Indian School Road. Parade attendance is FREE, FAMILY FRIENDLY and OPEN TO THE PUBLIC.

       Additional information regarding the 41st Phoenix Pride Festival & Parade, including additional performers, Latin Stage headliners, parade grand marshals and more, will be released when available.

           The Phoenix Pride Festival is Arizona’s largest annual LGBTQ+ community event. It is produced by Phoenix Pride, a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization.

Coyotes Support Arizona’s First LGBTQ+ Hockey League with Adult Learn to Play Program

PHOENIX, AZ – June 27, 2022 – With a goal to show that hockey is truly for everyone and with intent to create inclusive spaces for individuals to explore the sport, the Arizona Coyotes are proud to support the Arizona Legacy Pride Hockey Association (ALPHA) helping launch the Pride Growlers. The adult learn-to-play program for the LGBTQ+ community is designed to a provide safe and inclusive environment for community and its allies to learn the basics of skating, stickhandling, shooting and game play. 

ALPHA is a non-profit group that strives to be culturally diverse and representative of Arizona. This includes initiatives like recruiting Trans people, BIPOC and people of color. Players of all skill levels are encouraged to hit the ice and learn the basics of the game, no experience required. ALPHA provides Pride Growlers participants a majority of their gear, sans skates, thanks to the generous donations from hockey fans around the Valley.

“Hockey has grown so much here in the Valley, thanks in large part to the Coyotes, so when we founded ALPHA with intent to create a safe space for those interested in playing hockey, we were so proud to receive their unwavering support,” said Founder and CEO, Matthew Spang-Marshall. “It has been such a positive experience for all of us involved to give us an outlet to learn new skills, have some fun and strengthen our LGBTQ+ community here in the Valley, all in a highly inclusive environment.”

Comprised of 10 on-ice sessions every Sunday at the Coyotes Community Ice Center in Mesa, the Coyotes Hockey Development coaching staff guides participants through the practices to enhance their skills and promote teamwork amongst the participants. Guest coaches have included former Coyotes player Tyson Nash and former U.S. Olympian Lyndsey Fry.

“The Arizona Coyotes strive to create an environment that welcomes and appreciates everyone from every walk of life,” said Arizona Coyotes Senior Director of Hockey Development Business Strategy Lyndsey Fry. “Providing support to the local hockey community helps create an inclusive space to allow adults with interest in learning hockey, while also making lifelong friendships and connections.”

Individuals looking to join the Pride Growlers or find more information on other hockey development programs, visit arizonacoyotes.com/play.

This rendering imagines “Sun Drops” by Jeff Zischke, one of the artworks to be featured at the 2022 Canal Convergence | Celebrating 10 Years of Water + Art + Light from Nov. 4–13, 2022. Rendering by Jeff Zischke.

SCOTTSDALE, Arizona — Scottsdale Arts’ Canal Convergence | Water + Art + Light will celebrated its 10th anniversary Nov. 4–13, 2022, at the Scottsdale Waterfront.

The free, 10-night event features large-scale public artworks created by artists from around the world alongside augmented reality artworks and experiences, live music and dance performances, creative workshops, educational activities, food trucks, and a beer and wine garden. In addition to the event’s perennial focus on interactivity and sustainability, this year’s featured theme is “Celebrating 10 Years of Water + Art + Light.”

“This November we will celebrate Canal Convergence’s evolution since 2012, its recognition today as a destination event and what we can look forward to seeing in the future as Canal Convergence continues to evolve,” said Kim Boganey, director of Scottsdale Public Art, the branch of Scottsdale Arts that launched the event at the Arizona Canal a decade ago.

Since the first official Canal Convergence in 2012, the event has embodied an ever-evolving conversation about site-specific public art, light art, community engagement and more. For Canal Convergence 2022, each artist was directed to present an artwork that celebrates Water + Art + Light, interactivity and sustainability, while also drawing from past themes like “Reconnect,” “The Story of Water” and “Art and Technology.”

This year’s event will celebrate the vibrant global artist community that has made Canal Convergence so memorable over the years by selecting local, national and international artists who have exhibited work at Canal Convergence in the past alongside new artists. Scottsdale-based artist Jeff Zischke, one of the original 2012 artists, will be creating a new work for Canal Convergence called “Sun Drops.”

Zischke said his 2012 artwork, “Nodal Water Garden,” presented a challenge as he and the Scottsdale Public Art team installed more than 200 illuminated shapes on the surface of the Arizona Canal. But “Sun Drops,” which will be suspended above the canal, offers a different set of creative challenges.

“There will be five units designed like sun shapes installed in an ascending and descending order, representing sunrise and sunset in our desert environment,” Zischke said. “There are many new problems to be solved, such as engineering of cable structures and design and programming of the computer controlled LEDs that will power the sculptures at night. I look forward to working with the Canal convergence team to create another spectacular public art installation in the canal environment.”

Canal Convergence will also commission original augmented reality artworks from Arizona artists in addition to AR experiences that correspond to the physical artworks. As in the past two years, visitors to Canal Convergence can view the AR artworks and experiences through the ScottsdalePublicArt+ channel on the Hoverlay app, which also offers a portal to learn about permanent artworks throughout the city via AR.

Dr. Gerd Wuestemann, president and CEO of Scottsdale Arts, noted the massive growth of Canal Convergence in recent years, from a four-day spring gathering that maxed out at 80,000 visitors to a fall event that now typically draws about a quarter-million people to the Scottsdale Waterfront over the course of its 10 days.

“This was supported by significant investment of resources by the city of Scottsdale, via its Tourism Development Commission, as well as our own private and corporate fundraising,” Wuestemann said. “Ten years ago we embraced the idea of activating this waterfront as a public space to bring community together. I think this made Scottsdale a better place to live, while making our community stronger.”

In the coming months, additional Canal Convergence artworks and information about performances, workshops and other aspects of the event will be added to the event website at CanalConvergence.com.

Canal Convergence is made possible with annual support from the City of Scottsdale. Additional support is provided by Billie Jo Herberger, SRP, Nationwide, Christine and Richard Kovach, Magnum Companies, Hannon Rigging & Production, Hoverlay, SOAR Foundation, Sirius Structures, Walter Station Brewery, McDowell Sonoran Conservancy, FirstBank, Cosanti Foundation, and Dollar Radio Rentals.

WASHINGTON—Today, Gallup released a new poll that showed a growing percentage of people (71%) in the U.S. support same-sex marriage. In response, Human Rights Campaign Legal Director Sarah Warbelow released the following statement:

“This new data not only shows the continuing growth of support for same-sex marriage but also underscores what we have long known—anti-LGBTQ+ politicians and activists attacking marriage equality do not reflect the beliefs of the nation and are working contrary to public opinion,” said Sarah Warbelow, Human Rights Campaign Legal Director. “Notably, the Supreme Court doesn’t take public opinion into account when makings its decision; the Court will override decades of precedent if it strikes down Roe, despite the fact that a majority of Americans support access to abortion care. If that does indeed happen, it will likely embolden state legislatures – who have already been introducing and passing anti-LGBTQ+ legislation at a record pace – to continue to test the limits of court recognized LGBTQ+ equality. ”

Key Points from the poll:

• Today, results from a 2022 Gallup poll were released that showed the estimate of Americans that support same-sex marriage has risen to 71%, an increase of more than 44 percentage points from the initial recording in 1996.
  • In 2011, support for same-sex marriage reached the majority level of Americans.
  • In 2015, one month before the U.S. Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision, public support for legalizing same-sex marriage reached the 60% level.

Gallup: Same-Sex Marriage Support Inches Up to New High of 71%

By: Justin McCarthy

Seventy-one percent of Americans say they support legal same-sex marriage, which exceeds the previous high of 70% recorded in 2021 by one percentage point.

When Gallup first polled about same-sex marriage in 1996, barely a quarter of the public (27%) supported legalizing such unions. It would take another 15 years, until 2011, for support to reach the majority level.

Then in 2015, just one month before the U.S. Supreme Court’s Obergefell v. Hodges decision, public support for legalizing gay marriage cracked the 60% level, and last year it reached the 70% mark for the first time.

Read More.

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work and in every community.