Keith Edwards says he is worried about one thing on Sunday: “Whether the cell signal holds.” The YouTube political commentator will host a two-hour livestream from the 57th annual New York City Pride March, in partnership with GLAAD. It starts at noon Eastern on his channel.
Edwards, who has built one of YouTube’s most-watched political channels, will talk with guests from the official NYC Pride float as the parade moves through Manhattan. Confirmed names include New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, comedian Kathy Griffin, commentator Adam Mockler, actor Billy Porter, drag performer Peppermint and actor Jonathan Bennett. Writer Liz Plank, comedian Rob Anderson and creator Monte Mader are also on the list, which he says is still growing. The broadcast will raise money for GLAAD and Heritage of Pride.
He told The Advocate the point is joy. “One of the most radical things you can do in a moment of extreme fear and a moment of authoritarianism is to experience joy and happiness,” he said. In his view, the Trump administration and the country’s mood are working to keep LGBTQ+ people suppressed.
How the show works
The broadcast mixes live segments from the route with remote and recorded ones. Entertainer Frankie Grande and singer and actress Jessica Vosk will appear in person. Griffin and Hochul are expected to join remotely, Porter is filming a recorded segment, and Mockler will appear from Pride in Chicago.
A production company and roughly 15 to 20 people are involved, Edwards said, and he hired a comedy writer to shape segments. “It’s not a typical livestream,” he said. “I really wanted it to feel engaging.”
He pictures the audience as people who cannot be at the parade, including anyone watching alone and feeling afraid. “For two hours you won’t be by yourself,” he said.
The political backdrop
The Advocate reported earlier this month that the Department of Veterans Affairs ordered health facilities nationwide to end gender identity-based initiatives and strip the LGBTQ+ label from its network of veteran care coordinators. A June 12 directive signed by Veterans Health Administration Under Secretary for Health John J. Bartrum told facilities to comply with President Donald Trump’s executive orders on diversity, equity and inclusion programs and federal recognition of transgender people. The coordinators, in place since 2016, were to be renamed simply care coordinators.
Edwards called the rollback “the final gasp of a dying ideology.” He added: “all this stuff they’re doing is totally reversible if we get people in office who want to defend our rights and equality.”
He also criticized his own party. After primary wins in New York City by Democratic Socialist candidates endorsed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, he said Democrats “have run on ‘Trump bad’ for 11 years, and Trump is president again and in many ways more powerful than ever.”
Edwards grew up in Warren, Michigan, and did not go to college. He later worked in politics, including as a senior digital adviser to Sen. Jon Ossoff and communications director for the Lincoln Project. He came out at 16, in 2001, and took a boyfriend to prom.
Asked about Sunday’s tone, he said a protest can be a happy one. “I think the most infuriating thing you can do to a bigot is smile and be happy,” he said.
