Disney+'s Virtual Pride Concert to Feature Hayley Kiyoko, Alex Newell

This piece initially ran on Out.com. Read the original here.

Disney+ is going virtual with a concert celebrating Pride through Disney songs.

RuPaul’s Drag Race alum Nina West will host the concert, which features performances of notable Disney songs, but reinterpreted through an LGBTQ+ lens.

This Is Me: Pride Celebration Spectacular will include performances from Alex Newell, Hayley Kiyoko, DCappella, Jackie Cox, Kermit the Frog, Jesse James Keitel, and Michael James Scott. Frankie A. Rodriguez and Joe Serafini, a real-life couple who plays a couple on the Disney+ show High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, will also perform.

Through the concert, Disney is hoping to raise awareness for GLSEN, a non-profit that works with LGBTQ+ students to make sure they have safe learning and growing environments. 

Songs being performed haven’t been announced, but with a catalog like "Reflection," "Kiss the Girl," "Part of Your World," "Let it Go," "Into the Unknown," and the entire soundtrack of Newsies, Disney sure has a lot of really gay songs to choose from.

Kiyoko, also known as Lesbian Jesus to her fans, has recently released two new songs, "Found My Friends," and "Chance." The latter features a Kiyoko-directed video showing a sweet cottagecore romance between her and Love, Simon actress Alexandra Shipp.

Shipp recently came out herself. "I didn’t come out until I was 28," she wrote on Instagram earlier this month. "Though I don’t believe in regrets, this would definitely be #1 for myself. I denied denied denied." But now, she says she couldn’t be happier. "Today I’m happy in ways I don’t think my kid self could imagine,"she continued.

In last week’s episode of High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, Seb (Serafini) serenaded his boyfriend Carlos (Rodriguez) at his surprise Quinceañero by singing Miley Cyrus’ "The Climb."

"I’ve been singing along with Miley Cyrus since the song first came out when I was a kid," Serafini said about the scene. "And I think the way the writers incorporated it into Seb’s storyline is really beautiful. We all have our own 'climbs' in life, and I think LGBTQ+ youth can especially relate to that idea — appreciating the journey to living out loud, unapologetically. And navigating the rough patches along the way."

This Is Me: Pride Celebration Spectacular is directed by Ann Marie Pace and will air on YouTube and Facebook on Sunday, June 27 at 8pm EST/5pm PT.