Belgrade Pride 2012 Dates Announced!

Slogan for this year is “Love, Faith, Hope” as the program coincides with the Orthodox religious holiday “Faith, Hope and Charity”.

 

Queeria Center has announced yesterday that the Belgrade Pride 2012 will be held from September 30th to October 7th. For the first time the Pride has the form of 8-days festival, with a lot of daily activities and Pride March on October 6th as a part of manifestation. Slogan for this year is “Love, Faith, Hope” as the program coincides with the Orthodox religious holiday “Faith, Hope and Charity”.

 

It is a great challenge to organize Belgrade Pride 2012. Activists know that human rights advocacy does not settle for the options of victory and defeat. Everything that is a part of the human rights issue is a mere part of a process that needs to be permanently controlled.

Transferring the human rights from an idea into practice is a task that requires a coordinated society in all its segments, from the parliament to every single state institution, independent body, educational and cultural institution, media, civil society organizations, al the way to every individual citizen of Serbia.

LGBT rights are particularly sensitive, they are the breaking point of the dominant discourse of democratization in a society; the degree of respect for these rights reflects the degree of respect for all other citizens, especially of the minorities.

There is a continuity of the Pride events in Serbia, however their progress rate is sadly low; we had two Pride Parades under circumstances of extreme violence (in 2001 and 2010), one Pride Parade cancelled by the organizers (in 2004), two Pride Parades banned by the authorities (in 2009 and 2011), which all indicates the social climate of the LGBT community environment.

The minimum progress manifests itself in the support the LGBT community receives every year, as well as in the determination of the LGBT organizations to continue advocating for the LGBT rights.

After the ban on Pride 2011, a detailed analysis was made, not only of the political situation, but also of the perception of the LGBT community, their families and friends of the purpose of this event. It was important for us, being organizers of this event, to consolidate the needs of those for whom we have initiated the Pride in first place. We perceive this decision as a part of the LGBT rights process improvement that takes place not only in the cooperation with institutions, but also at the request of the LGBT community – only an individual who has been empowered can demand rights!

 We have developed the Pride 2012 concept after individual talks, monitoring comments on social networks and forums and analyzing public debates about the Pride Parade.

From September 30 until October 7, the dialogue between LGBT community and the citizens will mark Belgrade. The citizens will have an opportunity to participate directly in public debates about various aspects of the LGBT community; everyone will have access to information and a chance to be a direct actor in a society that aspires to be democratic. This will be a multi-level two-way dialogue with three main actors: the community, LGBT organizations and government institutions.

This year’s Belgrade Pride, with its slogan Love, Faith, Hope, with a series of discussions, presentations, promotions, projections, exhibitions, performances, workshops, concerts and parties, becomes a platform that will continue to be the measure of civil rights, freedom and democracy in Serbia.

We firmly believe that you will also support our effort.

Pride Parade Belgrade 2012 Organization Board

May 2012

Press Conference: http://www.mc.rs/belgrade-pride-2012.4.html?eventId=8545

Queeria Center Web: www.queeriacentar.org