Brussels Pride will take place on Saturday 20 May and will once again put the LGBTQIA+ community in the spotlight by adorning the streets of Brussels in the colours of the rainbow. This year’s theme will be “Protect the Protest” and will take the form of a call to respect the LGBTQIA+ community’s fundamental right to protest, the event’s organisers announced on Tuesday.
“The Belgian LGBTQIA+ movement knows how crucial freedoms of association and expression are for progress. These rights must therefore be granted or maintained, in Belgium, in Europe and throughout the world,” the associations stress.
On Saturday 20 May, the Pride Parade will take place in the streets of the city centre while the Pride Village will host the associations. LGBTQIA+ artists will occupy several stages spread out in the centre of the capital. In total, around 100 partners, associations and artists will collaborate during the event.
To ensure the safety of the participants, “SAFER Pride spaces” will be present at several strategic locations and will make it possible to report any inappropriate or offensive behaviour.
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In addition to the festivities, the Design Museum in Brussels will present the exhibition Brussels Queer Graphics, produced in collaboration with the Structure for Interdisciplinary Research on Gender, Equality and Sexuality (STRIGES). From the 1950s to today, the exhibition will highlight the visual language of the LGBTQIA+ communities in Brussels.
The traditional Mini-Pride on Wednesday 10 May 2023 will mark the start of Pride Week.
This year, the event is changing its name from “Belgian Pride” to “Brussels Pride: The Belgian and European Pride” to highlight its Brussels roots while confirming its attachment to Belgium and the European Union as a whole.
No less than 150,000 people are expected to take to the streets of the capital to support diversity.
