A free online summit will bring together the global LGBT community for the first time.
Global Pride Summit is being held June 1-5, and each day six to seven thought leaders, activists, therapists, coaches, celebrities and others will bring information on a range of topics to help inspire attendees to share their Pride.
Speakers include Greg Louganis, Chaz Bono, Judy Shepard, Jordan Bach, Gabby Bernstein, Michael Bernard Beckwith, Alexandra Billings, Bria and Chrissy, Rob Bell, Hudson Taylor of Athlete Ally and more.
Videos ranging from 20-40 minutes in length have been prerecorded with each of the speakers and will be delivered to participants daily via email.
Additionally, each evening a live webinar will be held featuring one of that day's speakers.
"There's never been something of this kind done before, online, free, and for the LGBT world," said Mark Anthony Lord, founder of the summit. "For a very long time I've had it in my heart to help LGBT people do the inner work around healing internalized homophobia, which simply means low self-esteem, not feeling good enough [and] growing up in a society where you are rejected. Even if you are accepted in your family or by your friends, you live in a culture that is so heterosexually based that anyone LGBT often has some inner wounds."
Lord said each day of the Global Pride Summit would have a different theme based on the word "Pride."
"The first part is about empowering ourselves on the inside, the other part is about learning about each other," Lord said.
Day one will focus on passion, specifically, "igniting one's passion for being LGBT."
"For being who we are and for being out so we can help others," Lord said.
Day two will focus on responsibility.
"Its about helping people take responsibility for our inner thoughts, our inner emotions, for the way we think about ourselves, but also taking responsibility for how we show up in the world," Lord said. "To be supportive and affirmative and taking the high road as opposed to fighting and arguing with people who are trapped in fear."
Day three will focus on intimacy and how to have "healthy intimacy with ourselves and others."
Day four will focus on being daring, by being courageous and "daring to be your greatest self."
Day five will focus on empowerment and accessing internal power.
Lord said one thing people should know about Global Pride Summit is that it will not just focus on the "L" and "G" parts of the community.
"You will hear stories from transgender people, stories about what it means to be bisexual, especially about those two letters," he said. "You will learn a lot and your heart will open with compassion when you hear some of those stories."
He also encourages allies to participate.
Lord said he was inspired to create the Global Pride Summit because of his experience working with the LGBT community.
"I do counseling for LGBT people and after the Global Pride Summit there will be an online class to help people awaken to greater pride," he said.
In addition to counseling, Lord has worked in the area of spirituality. He received his masters in divinity from Agape Spiritual Center where he studied under Michael Bernard Beckwith.
A previous resident of Chicago, he founded and was the spiritual director of the Bodhi Spiritual Center for more than 10 years. He said he has been a teacher, coach and a healer in his career. He has also written two books, Thou Shall Not Suffer and The Seven Living Words.
He just recently relocated to Los Angeles with his partner, Patrick Ziegler.
Lord said the he hopes the summit will become an annual event. He said his goal for year one is to garner at least 5,000 attendees and grow that number each year as the event gains traction.
While the videos are free during the event to those who register, Lord said if people want to own the full library of videos following the event they would be available for purchase.
"If you miss some of the videos or you are too busy and are unable to watch them all you will be able to purchase the whole library," he said.
During the event, the video collection will be available for a discounted price of $97. After the event, the videos can be purchased for $197.
Additionally, every purchase buys a second set of videos that will be donated to an LGBT individual or organization.
"For every one purchased, we gift someone a summit," Lord explained. "LGBT people and organizations that could use this in their library to support their people, but that don't have extra resources [to purchase them].
In addition to hosting Global Pride Summit annually, Lord said he also hopes to host additional events focused on specific topics throughout the year. For instance, in the fall he is planning a summit on the topics of intimacy, relationships and marriage.
To register, see the full speaker lineup and learn more about Global Pride Summit, visit globalpridesummit.com/ .