Atlanta Pride will be online again as the organisers are cancelling
all in-person festivities for the second year in a row due to the rise in
COVID-19 cases in the city.

The Atlanta Pride Committee announced on Wednesday that the
2021 Pride Festival and Parade, scheduled to be held in Midtown and Piedmont
Park in October, will be completely digital. According to the organisers, the
decision was reached after widespread consultation with the community’s public
health officials.

“While this is a painful decision to make, we know that
this will help us protect the community we care so much about – and we can all
look forward to being together in the future when it is safer for
everyone,” the Atlanta Pride Committee said in a Facebook post.

In 2020, the organisers had cancelled all the in-person
activities of the festival and parade due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the
focus turning to virtual events during the time when Atlanta Pride was
scheduled to happen.

Atlanta Pride is a week-long annual LGBTQ pride festival held
in the city of Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1971, it is one of the oldest
and largest pride festivals in the United States. According to the Atlanta
Pride Committee, as of 2017, attendance had continually grown to around 300,000
as of 2017. While the festival was originally a pride held in June, Atlanta
Pride has been held in October every year since 2008, typically on a weekend
closest to National Coming Out Day.

The state of Georgia reported 7,411 new cases of the virus
in last 24 hours. While the state confirmed ninety more deaths in the past day,
369 more people were hospitalised due to the complications associated with the
disease. Overall, Georgia has confirmed 1,048,892 cases since the pandemic
began with 19,364 confirmed deaths.