Prague Pride 2019 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots

The Prague Pride Festival, taking place from August 5 to 11 this year, will also revisit important LGBT+ moments in Czechoslovak history.

“Even though homosexuality has been decriminalized here since 1962, the Stonewall Riots still hold an important message for us: to publicly join a queer community that is very diverse and contrasted,” said Hana Kulhánková, Director of LGBT+ Festival Prague Pride.

Mutual support and collaboration across the community is the leitmotif of this year’s festival.

Italian actress, politician, and trans activist Vladimir Luxuria, and British model and asexual activist Yasmin Benoit will both appear at the festival. Czech audiences can also expect a Skype discussion with intersex activist Pidgeon Pagonis.

The festival’s organizers say that intergenerational encounters are an important link between the past and present. This year’s Pride will recognize older members of the LGBT+ community, launching Pride Life, a multi-day program, which will take place at the headquarters of Life 90 organization and provide support to seniors.

Visitors can also look forward to remembrances of the Stonewall protests with Slovak photographer Robert Vano, who himself took part in the riot. Also on the program: a retro disco, intergenerational brunch, and a discussion of the current realities of elderly LGBT+ people today.

According to organizers, this year’s campaign theme, Together Within Reach, refers to the fact that even today, 57 years after the abolition of homosexuality’s punishment in Czechoslovakia, many of the same-sex couples still prefer to refrain from public display of affection, like holding hands.

This year promises more than 130 events, most of them free. The festival kicks off with the traditional opening concert at Pride Village on Střelecký island on Monday, August 5th. This year’s headliner is Daniela Sea, best known for her role as trans character Max in the cult series The L Word, performing as a part of a musical duo with Swedish DJ Gunn Lundemo.

Among other marquee names are Kapitán Demo and Leopold, pioneers of genderless fashion who represent a new generation of proud LGBTIQ* artists. Older generations will be represented by 80-year-old DJ Wika from Poland and Elpida choir accompanied by Never Sol in the joint project OLD’s COOL.

The Rainbow Parade will take place on Saturday, August 10th. The parade returns to its former route leading from Wenceslas Square to Na Příkopě Street and then through Náměstí Republiky, Revoluční, Dvořák Embankment, and Čech’s Bridge to the stairs that lead to Letná park. The festivities will continue in Pride Park at Letná Plain until 10 pm.

For more information visit the official Prague Pride website.