Gay News From Balkan

[haiducii]

Maribor holds its first Pride parade



Over 800 people (on December 31, 2016 there were 94.370 registered people living in Maribor) participated yesterday at the first Maribor Pride.

Maribor Pride was organized by Youth cultural center Maribor together with a group of volunteers from Go Free-the Association for the Support of Civil Society from Romania.

Maribor is not the only city in the region to host its first pride parade. The Croatian port city of Rijeka, Serbia's second largest city Novi Sad and Bosnian capital Sarajevo will also host their first parades this year, according to Pride Parade Association head and festival director Simona Mursec.

Talking to the press at the beginning of the festival, she said that the first pride parades in these cities will be a litmus test showing whether the society is ready to accept LGBTQ+ people as their neighbours.

This year's parade slogan is Unavoidably Intertwined, with the organisers trying to raise awareness about the pervasiveness of hatred, and about negative and stereotypical portrayal of marginalised groups.

"Our lives are strongly influenced by the society and its dynamics; what is going on in the media and in politics. We've come a long way in 19 years but homophobic and xenophobic abuse, hate speech and bullying at schools remain an everyday occurrence, and this is a part of our reality as well," Mursec illustrated.

 

[gorgik9]

Maribor holds its first Pride parade



Over 800 people (on December 31, 2016 there were 94.370 registered people living in Maribor) participated yesterday at the first Maribor Pride.

Maribor Pride was organized by Youth cultural center Maribor together with a group of volunteers from Go Free-the Association for the Support of Civil Society from Romania.

Maribor is not the only city in the region to host its first pride parade. The Croatian port city of Rijeka, Serbia's second largest city Novi Sad and Bosnian capital Sarajevo will also host their first parades this year, according to Pride Parade Association head and festival director Simona Mursec.

Talking to the press at the beginning of the festival, she said that the first pride parades in these cities will be a litmus test showing whether the society is ready to accept LGBTQ+ people as their neighbours.

This year's parade slogan is Unavoidably Intertwined, with the organisers trying to raise awareness about the pervasiveness of hatred, and about negative and stereotypical portrayal of marginalised groups.

"Our lives are strongly influenced by the society and its dynamics; what is going on in the media and in politics. We've come a long way in 19 years but homophobic and xenophobic abuse, hate speech and bullying at schools remain an everyday occurrence, and this is a part of our reality as well," Mursec illustrated.

I'm absolutely certain you were there - haiducii in Maribor Pride is as selfevident as the spoon in the soupbowl (or someting like that... ).

Well, what do you say? Congrats Maribor :cheers:

 

[dargelos]

To get that high a turnout right from the start is amazing. It took London 30 years to reach such large attendance numbers pro rata. And your march is the real thing. It means what it says. In London the LBGTQ+ message is now barely visible in the gaps between the advertisments.