Between sequins, floats, flags and vibrant playlists, sometimes we forget something essential: Pride was not born as a party. It was born as a protest.
And this year, more than ever, we have to remember it. Because it’s not just about dancing in the street, but about going out there with your head held high, your heart full and the conviction that no one should tell us how to love, how to dress or how to live.
Therefore, we do not ask for permission. We ask for respect. Because being lesbian, gay, trans, bisexual, intersex, non-binary or queer is not a phase or a provocation: it is a reality, an identity, a valid existence.
We want to live as we feel, without imposed labels, without being asked if “it’s over with us”, if “we are safe”, if “you’re really like that”. We don’t want tolerance. We want freedom. And that starts with respect.
Your freedom ends where mine begins. And mine says: I am who I am, I love who I love, and I exist without asking for forgiveness.
They want us silent, they want us consuming but not protesting. They want us demobilized, away from each other, without associating, without meeting, without organizing. Because they know that when we come together, we are unstoppable. Example? What happened in Hungary. When the government has tried to silence and isolate LGTBIQ+ people, the response has been clear: you are not alone.
From associations, cities and groups throughout Europe they have shouted in unison: we are not going to go back, not one step back in our rights, not one millimeter of invisibility and that is that for this world in which we live we do not want even one more person to have to live in fear.
And we are citizens and we want to feel free and respected. We pay taxes, we work, we contribute. And the minimum we demand is that they do not persecute us for loving, for expressing our gender, for forming diverse families, for living outside the binary.
And this is not an ideology, it is a reality, they cannot say they protect children without us expressing ourselves, that the lgtbiq+ group induces pedophilia. It is infamy and it saddens me that they manipulate a part of the population like this. Our demands are not propaganda, it is experience, it is not measuring, it is demanding what is equitable and doing justice.
Therefore, every step we take in the demonstration is a step that someone could not take before.
Every flag we fly is a story of struggle behind it.
Every kiss in public is a political act when there are still people dying to do it.
Don’t forget: we march for those who can’t. For those who are still afraid. For those who are in countries where being you is a crime. For you. For me. For us.
Pride is an act of collective love.
It is remembering that we are part of a diverse, rich, strong community. That you are not alone. That when we meet, we take care of each other. And when we organize, we change the world.
This year, go out with pride and awareness.
Celebrate, yes. But also remember, for everything that is missing and for all those who fought so that we feel free, can get married and live how we want to live.
Fight, shout, sing, march.
Because what today is a celebration, yesterday was fire.
And what is freedom today, tomorrow could be a threat if we do not continue fighting.
🖤💛🤍💙❤️
See you at the demonstration.
With anger, with love and with the desire to improve everything.
