‘Balkan Pride’ opens in Bulgaria’s Plovdiv on July 4
The Balkan Pride exhibition, presenting photos, information and items from Pride events in large cities in the Balkans – including Sofia – opens in Plovdiv on July 4 at 6.30pm and continues until July 15.
Part of the official programme of Plovdiv 2019 – European Capital of Culture, Balkan Pride includes, apart from the exhibition, a public discussion and a Balkan Pride musical event. It is organised by Bulgaria’s Glas (Gays and Lesbians Accepted in Society) Foundation.
The project challenges certain stereotypes, but also aims at a dialogue between different social, age and ethnic groups in order to improve urban culture and expand public horizons, the Plovdiv 2019 Foundation said. Organisers of pride parades in Thessaloniki, Belgrade and Bucharest will also take part.
“The project seeks a dialogue between local and international culture and the ways in which Balkan and European can coexist, complement and enrich themselves. Its central place is human rights and the question of the intertwining of traditional Balkan values and LGBTI equality.
“We are all citizens of our countries, we are all connected with the history of the Balkans and this is a positive basis on which we can build dialogue and rapprochement between us,” the organisers said.
The opening is at 16 Exarch Yosif Street in Plovdiv’s Tobacco Town precinct.
Earlier in 2019, Balkan Pride was targeted by ultra-conservative political forces in Plovdiv, which mounted an unsuccessful attempt to get its funding removed and the event scrapped. In March, homophobic graffiti was daubed on the walls of the Plovdiv 2019 Foundation’s headquarters.
