Last week, Stockholm Pride took place. For a week the LGBTIQ communities come together all over Stockholm to celebrate freedom to be themselves, and the right to love who ever one chooses to love.
Pride acts as a positive stance against the discrimination and violence towards lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersexual and queer people while also promoting self-affirmation, dignity and equality.
Pride can furthermore increase visibility for the LGBTIQ as a social group, help build community and encourage celebration of sexual diversity and gender variance.
The spectacular parade is often the highlight of Stockholm Pride for many visitors. It stands for togetherness and party, but it is also an important standpoint for people’s equal value and rights. It is a chance for people to show who they are and an opportunity to show solidarity with their fellow human beings.
This was the first time I joined the Pride parade, as a participant. It was an experience out of the ordinary, filled with so much love, hope and warmth.
Being equestrians all our lives, some friends and I decided to walk with the Swedish Equestrian Federation. Equestrian is one of the only sports in the world where women, men or whoever you define yourself as, compete with and against each other on the same terms and conditions. Our gender, sex, age, background or wealth has nothing to do whether anyone is welcome into the equestrian world. The only things that matter are the love for the horse and the community.
The name Pride it's credited to Brenda Howard, a bisexual activist nicknamed the "Mother of Pride," who organized the first Pride parade to commemorate the one-year anniversary of the Stonewall uprising. On June 28, 1969, a police raid took place at the Stonewall Inn in New York City and it is said to be the “tipping point” for the gay liberation movement in the United States. The uproar paved the way for the modern fight for LGBTIQ rights.
Stockholm Pride was founded in 1998 and has been organized annually since. It is now the largest LGBTIQ-event in Scandinavia as well as the largest annual event in Stockholm.
This year’s parade broke all records with an estimated amount of 55 000–60 000 participants, 250 floats and watched by over 600 000 viewers/bystanders through Stockholm.
During Stockholm Pride there have been Pride hubs and pop ups where visitors can meet and take part of different events, all around the city. This year more than 800 lectures, panel talks, and other events have been held around Stockholm.
During Friday, a Human Rights Conference took place, with a European focus on LGBTIQ rights, especially in regard to transgender people. The conference offered several seminars and lectures, for example about the mobilisation of the trans communities in Eastern Europe and Russia, LGBTIQ refugees and the challenges they face in the migration process, as well as how Swedish minors lacks the right to change their sex legal. This conference and the political debate on migration policy were the most well attended events during the week.
Keep scrolling to see more images of the parade!
