The European Pride Organisers Association has announced that Belfast Pride have made the shortlist, along with five other cities, to host EuroPride 2023.
The EuroPride event has been hosted in a different European city each year, celebrating the diversity of the LGBT+ community in the host country. Since it was founded in 1991, it has gone on to promote 90 member organisations in over 30 countries. In September of last year, Belgrade Pride was announced as recipients of the mantle for 2022 during a livestream.
Belfast will now be bidding against Bergen, Hull, Malta and Rotterdam to take home the honorary title. The five bids will be presented at the AGM of the European Pride Organisers Association in Oslo this October.
NEWS: Five Prides shortlisted in bidding for #EuroPride 2023. Good luck to @belfastpride @BergenPride @prideinhull @pridemalta and @RotterdamPride! https://t.co/FdEtsJhafg pic.twitter.com/sJm550cXBH
— EPOA • EuroPride (@EuroPride) April 1, 2020
EuroPride Coordinator for the European Pride Organisers Association, Stein Runar Østigaard, said, “The ambition of the teams in Belfast, Bergen, Hull, Malta and Rotterdam is admirable and I look forward to seeing their bids when they are delivered to us in August. I am excited to see how they will take the history of EuroPride forward and I wish all five organisations the very best of luck.”
The shortlist announcement occurs during a monumental year for both Belfast Pride, as they prepare for their 30th anniversary in August, and the LGBT+ community in Northern Ireland, who have recently celebrated the first same-sex marriage under new legislative changes. In light of these challenging times, it is an amazing victory to build upon these experiences towards an international level.
President of the European Pride Organisers Association, Kristine Garina, said: “We are of course all aware of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on Pride organisers around the world but we must stay focused and united. It’s great to see Belfast Pride, Bergen Pride, Pride in Hull, Malta Pride and Rotterdam Pride looking beyond the current situation and all bidding to deliver an outstanding EuroPride in 2023.”
Garina further states, “I look forward to seeing the bids from all five Prides, and I am sure we will see human rights and the fight for LGBTI equality at the heart of each bid. We are living in troubling times and Pride is a vital opportunity for us to come together and stand as one.”
The winner of EuroPride 2023 is expected to be announced on Saturday, October 3, 2020.
© 2020 GCN (Gay Community News). All rights reserved.
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