The 15th edition of the Bucharest Pride festival, the annual festivity dedicated to LGBTQIA+, is kicking off in Bucharest tomorrow, June 14.
The festival organised by ACCEPT Association has 10 days of events in store for the LGBTQIA+ community and its supporters, which will culminate in the well known Bucharest Pride Parade that will take place in Victoriei Square for the second year in a row, on June 22nd, starting 5 p.m. The participants will march from Victoriei Square on Victoriei Avenue up to Universitate Square.
The parade will end with speeches and music shows in Universitate Square.
The programme of the festival includes over 40 events, enjoying growing number of partners: theatre performances, parties, film screenings, concerts, debates, meant to present the life and the cultural interests of the LGBT community in Romania.
As a first at this anniversary edition, the Bucharest Pride 2019 will comprise events within the France-Romania Cultural Season. French DJs and bands, French films with LGBTQIA+ topic.
5 platforms will see the DJs mixing various music genres, threefold more than last year: Eugen Rădescu, DJ Reno, Lili Putana and DJ Little.
“Bucharest PRIDE 2019 is a manifesto for visibility and solidarity of the LGBTQIA+ community. At present, Romanians don’t realize they have at least one LGBTQIA+ person in their life. We are part of families, we have co-workers, we benefit of the healthcare and education systems in Romania. The visibility of the community is effecting change so that we are waiting participants attend the march with their parents, friends, colleagues and co-workers. Together we believe in solidarity and in equal rights for all,” said Patrick Brăila, ACCEPT co-president.
“Bucharest PRIDE remains for us, the organizers, a march for equality: the couples in the community are still lacking legal protection, despite the Romanian Constitutional Court confirmed last year their right for private life and family. Lawgivers are falsely claiming, through the voice of the Parliament or the Government, that there is no social need to regulate the civil partnership. We are waiting for thousands of LGBTQIA+ families from Bucharest and from Romania in the street to ask together for equal rights,” said in her turn Teodora Roseti, ACCEPT executive manager.
Such local figures as Emil Rengle, Andreea Balan, as well as ambassadors and members of the diplomatic corps in Bucharest have confirmed they will attend the 2019 parade so far, alongside representatives of some companies and of the civil society. The Bucharest Pride enjoy support of 74 sponsors and partners this year, such as Google, IBM, Microsoft, Irish Film Institute, Ireland Embassy, local pubs and clubs, associations, bookshops, etc.
Last year, around 4,000 people attended the Pride Parade in the Victoriei Square and the Universitate Square, with foreign ambassadors to Romania and local celebrities delivering speeches and joining the parade.