Christina Aguilera is celebrating Pride in the Big Apple.
Heritage of Pride — the volunteer-directed group behind the official NYC Pride roster of events — said Wednesday the global music superstar will headline this year’s Pride Island, the traditional dance party and fundraiser that closes LGBTQ Pride festivities in New York City each June.
This year, the rainbow-powered party heads to the Brooklyn Army Terminal, a massive warehouse complex in Sunset Park, on the South Brooklyn waterfront. Organizers promise an afternoon of “exuberant dancing, lights and music” — and, of course, the traditional Pride-themed fireworks display.
“I couldn’t be more excited to headline NYC Pride’s iconic Pride Island,” Aguilera, 42, said in a statement shared with the Daily News.
“I’m always ready to celebrate the strength and resilience of all the individual members of the LGBTQIA+ community and their allies by dedicating this performance to our combined power when we act and work in solidarity,” the seven-time Grammy winner added.
The NYC Pride 2023 calendar will feature events including the NYC Pride Rally on June 17; Youth Pride, a celebration for LGBTQ teens and their friends on June 24; Bliss Days, “a celebration of LGBTQIA+ Womxn” on June 25; and the traditional NYC Pride March, also on June 25.
The theme for this year’s festivities is “Strength in Solidarity” — which organizers say is designed “to illuminate the good that can and has been accomplished through uplifting and supporting one another,” during a time of unprecedented attacks on the rights of the LGBTQ community in the U.S.
And that makes the “Fighter” singer an obvious choice to headline its main event.
Aguilera, a Staten Island-born daughter of an Ecuadorian father and a German mother, has sold more than 75 million records and reached the top of the charts in three consecutive decades.
Throughout her impressive career, she has used her art as a way to advocate for LGBTQ equality — from standing up for the legalization of same-sex unions to fighting to end HIV/AIDS stigma to helping victims and families of the nation’s deadliest attack on the LGBTQ community.
In 2003, she received a special recognition award from GLAAD, the world’s largest LGBTQ media advocacy group, for her work in promoting LGBTQ acceptance in her “Beautiful” video — at a time when the depiction of queer love was considered a risky career move.
Earlier this year, she was once again honored by the organization and presented with its Advocate for Change award, an honor bestowed upon a person who has “changed the game for LGBTQ people around the world” through her work.
