VICTORIA -- The Victoria Pride Society is moving its annual Pride Week online this year, as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to restrict large gatherings.

According to the pride society, while the shift online has led to some unexpected benefits, there is also disappointment for the loss of in-person events that had to be cancelled.

“Basically we’ve been trying to organize a bunch of digital events in lieu of all of our in-person events which we had to cancel,” said Scott Daly, communications coordinator for the Victoria Pride Society.

One of the events that Daly was looking forward to was a “queer prom” that was set to take place at the Empress Hotel this summer.

However, the shift online has presented new opportunities for the organization.

This year’s Pride Week, which is set to take place from June 28 to July 5, will feature online performances, live play readings and a locally focused documentary.

“We are doing a virtual pride festival so all of the artists that would have been appearing on our beer garden stage and our main stage at the Victoria Pride Festival [will perform in videos and we will] premiere that on our virtual pride festival,” said Daly.

The society is also producing a documentary on the annual Memorial Dragball Game, a popular Pride event that is unique to Victoria.

“So this is really unique event that has drag queens versus drag kings and things playing a baseball game together,” said Daly.

“It’s very well attended every year but not a lot of people know the history about dragball,” he said.

Daly says the event emerged in Victoria in the 90s to remember members of the gay community that were affected by the AIDS health crisis.

“It was really a coming together of the community in the 90s as they were trying deal with the loss of so many friends from the AIDS pandemic,” he said.

Meanwhile, the popular Big Gay Dog Walk event will take place online. The pride society is encouraging people to send photos of their dogs in pride costumes for a best-costume competition.

The organization also plans to hold online literature readings and has partnered with the Intrepid Theatre to stream a play reading.

Daly says that in light of recent events, there will be a focus on queer writers of colour.

With the virtual pride week set to take place at the end of June, Daly says that schedules will be announced in the coming weeks.

The pride society is also accepting donations as it has lost roughly 75 per cent of its funding this year due to the pandemic.

“A lot of our usual partners are having a hard time, as everyone is,” said Daly. “So your support this year is very much appreciated.”

Further details on Victoria Pride Week can be found online here.