Prague, Aug 13 (CTK) – A march in support of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transsexuals (LGBT), which is a culmination of the 6th Prague Pride festival and in which 15,000 to 20,000 people take part according to the organisers, started in Wenceslas Square and it continues up to the Letna Park.
Most march participants carry rainbow flags and other symbols of the homosexual community, some wear extravagant clothes, use rainbow make-up, wear wigs or Hawaiian wreathes and carry balloons.
Ten festival floats, including ones of the U.S. embassy in Prague and Amnesty International, also take part in the march.
The greatest star of this year’s event is Omar Sharif Jr, grandson of the late famous Egyptian actor of the same name.
During the Arab Spring, in 2012, he came out as gay and had to leave his native Egypt for security reasons.
“Since then, he has not returned there, he is travelling around the world, speaking about his gay activism and encouraging other people to follow suit,” festival spokeswoman Bohdana Rambouskova told CTK.
Families with children wearing turquoise T-shirts also joined the march in support of the prepared amendment to the law on registered partnership that would allow the adoption of the child of the partner living in a registered union.
For the first time, the Solidarity Forever Bloc, which is comprised of the political organisations Idealists.cz, Socialist Solidarity and Young Social Democrats, is taking part in the march.
Some politicians, including Regional Development Minister Karla Slechtova and Prague Mayor Adriana Krnacova (both ANO) also take part.
A group of some ten Christian activists gathered in the upper part of Wenceslas Square. Carrying large crosses, they protested against the homosexual event and stressed the importance of the classic family.
During the march, the participants will pay tribute to the 49 people who were shot dead in the gay club in Orlando, U.S.
The motto of this year’s Prague Pride is love and other themes. “We focus on safe love and AIDS prevention and also on the family,” festival director Katerina Saparova said.
The festival has been held in the Czech Republic since 2011. The first editions were accompanied by protests of conservatives who said the event was tasteless and obscene. The protests gradually faded away.
This afternoon, the Committee in Protection of Parental Rights in cooperation with the Young Christian Democrats will stage Day for the Family elsewhere in Prague.
