This year’s Prague Pride will put the focus on the LGBTI family. The organizers aim to raise awareness of LGBTI family members to challenge the tendency to label them as just gay or lesbian.
“In the campaign, we want to mainly focus on how often homosexual children are considered black sheep of the family,” festival director Hana Kulhánková said. “We would like gays, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people to be perceived as comprehensive personalities who are something more than the gay or lesbian labels,” she added.
The Pride festival will take place from 6-12 August, with over 100 LGBTI-themed events including film screenings, theatre performances, seminars, and debates. As always, there will be a march through the city center on 11 August.
Awareness of LGBTI rights in the Czech Republic has grown over the last few years, but campaigners are still working to push through progressive legislation. LGBTI people still cannot adopt or foster children, and registered partners have no right to joint property and widow’s or widower’s pension, the organizers said.
Transgender people must also undergo sterilization in order to change their registered sex.
This year’s Pride week will celebrate a major piece of legislative progress, following the submission of a draft law in June which has opened the possibility of legalizing same-sex marriages in the Czech Republic.
The festival programme offers 127 events for Prague Pride. There will also be discussions on LGBTI rights in Turkey and Central Asia, and participants will have the opportunity to be tested for HIV and hepatitis A and B.
Author: red
