MilanoPride 2020 goes digital with LGBT+ Icons series on Instagram

Due to COVID-19, MilanoPride 2020 will not hold its traditional June parade or events in Porta Venezia. Instead, a virtual program culminates on June 27. A key initiative is LGBT+ Icons, an illustrated project by Mana Project Studio posted daily on @milanopride, profiling 40 iconic figures who shaped LGBT+ imagery. The series begins with Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475–1564), who had a decades-long relationship with Tommaso de' Cavalieri. It also features early 20th-century Broadway actor Julian Eltinge, known for his non-clichéd female impersonation; Frida Kahlo, who had a relationship with ranchera singer Chavela Vargas; Robert Mapplethorpe's transgressive homoerotic photography; and pop icons David Bowie, Elton John, Cher, Cyndi Lauper, and Raffaella Carrà.