Prague Pride 2017: We Don’t Want Tolerance—We Want Acceptance

Over the past six years, gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) festival Prague Pride has become an important late-summer happening in Prague.

This year, in its seventh annual outing, the festival will once again try to create a dialogue between the heterosexual majority and the LGBT community with a number of events and talks, culminating in Prague’s most inclusive summer parade.

According to Pride organizers, this year they hope to challenge the the mindset, all-too-common among many Czech politicians and the general public, that festivals like these are pointless because gay men and lesbians are seemingly tolerated in the Czech Republic.

“We tolerate people who talk loudly on their phones in restaurants or unfriendly cashiers in a supermarket. We tolerate things that are actually wrong but somehow we find understanding for them. We don’t want tolerance, we want acceptance,” says Kateřina Saparová, director of Prague Pride.

The festival campaign is using animated memes created by artist Václav Matoušek, that attempt to demonstrate the concept of tolerance vs. acceptance.

“We have the same right to publicly acknowledge our partners, hold hands on the street, or talk about holidays we spent with our partners,” says Saparová.

Guest speakers this year include Russian historian Irina Roldugina who recently found unpublished files on LGBT citizens in Stalin-era Soviet archives, Jayne Ozanne,of the General Synod of the Anglican Church, Jennifer Lu who coordinated the Taiwan Marriage Equality Coalition, and Ellie Lust, a Dutch policewoman and chair of the organization Pink in Blue.

Prague Pride 2017 starts with an opening concert in Pride Village (Střelecký island) on Monday, August 7. The parade will take place on Saturday, August 12, following its traditional route from St. Wenceslas Square to Letná park.