Czech conservatives protest in notes against Prague Pride support

Prague, Aug 13 (CTK) - Representatives of the Czech conservative group D.O.S.T. Monday handed over a note of protest against support to the current Prague Pride festival of sexual minorities to the City Hall and the U.S. embassy.

They also addressed letters of protest to the ambassadors of Israel and the Netherlands to the Czech Republic.

Prague Mayor Bohuslav Svoboda (Civic Democrats, ODS) did not appear to take the protest note in person Monday, citing his busy schedule.

He reportedly said he will deal with the D.O.S.T. appeal.

Svoboda accepted the patronage of the first Prague Pride last year already and he did not withdraw it even after the D.O.S.T.'s protest.

Thousands of people took part in the 2011 Prague Pride and the organisers expect 8000 people to attend the week-long festival that started Monday.

D.O.S.T. is a Czech acronym for Confidence, Objectiveness, Freedom and Tradition, and it also means "enough" in Czech.

The D.O.S.T. presents itself as a group promoting family values.

In its note it appeals on Svoboda as a representative of a right-wing party allegedly sticking to traditional spiritual and cultural values.

It has similarly appealed to ODS chairman and Czech Prime Minister Petr Necas.

"The festival mostly represents a week-long party of homoeroticism and pornographic industry. ...It is promotion of a life style that is socially detrimental," Michal Semin, D.O.S.T. chairman told journalists Monday.

In its notes to the embassies, the D.O.S.T. describes their official support to Prague Pride as a non-standard influencing of public life in the Czech Republic without any legitimate reason.

The conservatives also handed to the ambassadors a statement by some 120 foreign personalities who have supported their stand.

The festival represents an extreme ideological stream that threatens civic freedoms and rights, the D.O.S.T. writes.

The second festival of the local community of gays, lesbians. bisexuals and transsexuals will culminate with the Queer Pride Parade on Saturday.

This year's festival is to highlight the life of less visible groups such as disabled homosexuals or homosexual Romanies. It will include discussion meetings, exhibitions, concerts, parties, guided walks and a church service, the organisers said.

In protest against the Saturday march, the D.O.S.T. has convoked a rally "in defence of normal people's pride."