Last year in June, Thessaloniki and Greece hosted EuroPride 2024. With this event, our city and our country seized the opportunity to show to the world how hospitable they are toward all people, irrespective of sexual orientation, gender identity and expression and sex characteristics, or any other differences. The local, national, and European stakeholders who partnered to put together this great event, but also the response of the local community, sent out the message that both the institutions and the society support diversity, equality, and inclusion as universal values, with a particular reflection on our local and national character.
Where are we though one year later? The increase of seats of antidemocratic forces in the 2024 European elections and the attempt to enforce a new world order from the other side of the Atlantic incited a numbness to people, who try to find their pace after the unprecedented and surprisingly fierce assault to our lives from particular centres of interest and power.
The humankind does not surrender though. Despite the initial numbness, we see the people, the movements, the markets, and the democratic leaders fighting back. Not only are they not carried away by the reactionary waves, but they intensify their efforts to support the universal values of equality and inclusivity to counterbalance the new tendency.
The 13th Thessaloniki Pride forms part of this global effort and is back with renewed energy this year from June 16 to 21. We are here to remind that our rights do not depend on temporary parliamentary majorities, that the society of equality and inclusion does not have an expiration date and that we will take NOT A SINGLE STEP BACK from our achievements. With this slogan, we will gather this year at the White Tower on Saturday, June 21st, on the last and main day of our festival, to walk the streets of our city, to show our unity in our diversity, to empower ourselves, and gain self confidence to steer the course of our history only forward. A week full of events of any kind will precede the parade day, targeted to all people, of every age, gender, and sexuality, as it is always appropriate for a festival of celebration and claims.
Where are we though one year later? The increase of seats of antidemocratic forces in the 2024 European elections and the attempt to enforce a new world order from the other side of the Atlantic incited a numbness to people, who try to find their pace after the unprecedented and surprisingly fierce assault to our lives from particular centres of interest and power.
The humankind does not surrender though. Despite the initial numbness, we see the people, the movements, the markets, and the democratic leaders fighting back. Not only are they not carried away by the reactionary waves, but they intensify their efforts to support the universal values of equality and inclusivity to counterbalance the new tendency.
The 13th Thessaloniki Pride forms part of this global effort and is back with renewed energy this year from June 16 to 21. We are here to remind that our rights do not depend on temporary parliamentary majorities, that the society of equality and inclusion does not have an expiration date and that we will take NOT A SINGLE STEP BACK from our achievements. With this slogan, we will gather this year at the White Tower on Saturday, June 21st, on the last and main day of our festival, to walk the streets of our city, to show our unity in our diversity, to empower ourselves, and gain self confidence to steer the course of our history only forward. A week full of events of any kind will precede the parade day, targeted to all people, of every age, gender, and sexuality, as it is always appropriate for a festival of celebration and claims.