I still have a weak memory of the first Athens Pride 10 years ago. It was just a little while before I started packing my stuff for a trip in Belgrade totally drunk. That time I was still living in Athens, having many discussions about lgbtq rights in Greece with my friends who by coincidence were involved with gender and lgbtq rights groups. 10 years ago the Pride was an event of a handful of people, which iterally with courage and passion have organized a party on the grass of klathmonos square. We probably mentioned here many times that Athens remains a city with a hostile majority against lgbtq rights. Without any doubt every beginning is a hard job, however the Pride grown during the years with thousands of participants. The enemies of the pride became more as well. Many Neonazis in Greece are unsuccessfully trying every year to push forward a legal process for the prohibition of the event.
Regarding the concept of the Pride this year, accordingly the statement of the organizers, focus on equality and freedom of choice from the perspective of family life as defined by every LGBT person, and specifically on the legal recognition of all LGBT families.
The Greek State continues to deny us this right, even after the European Court of Human Rights decided on 11/2013 that “Greece has violated the European Convention on Human Rights by excluding same-sex couples from its Civil Partnership Law.”
Although this year I can’t be there, I strongly recommend to our readers from Athens to grab a beer and get there this Saturday. Anyway I bet there are not better alternatives for partying openair, demonstrating and all that for a good reason, especially now that Greece also officially turning into a strong racist, homophobic state. I am writing “state” because the society always was unfortunately..
and the promotion video of 2014
Shituationist Institute 