Belgrade Pride announced as the official hosts of EuroPride 2022

Belgrade Pride has been announced as the host of EuroPride 2022 as Dublin Pride announce they have started working on their next bid to bring EuroPride to Dublin.

News . Written by Oisin Kenny.

People celebrating Dublin Pride, wearing bright colours and fist bumping the air. EuroPride 2022 promises to be the biggest Pride yet.

Belgrade Pride has been announced as host for EuroPride 2022 during a live stream of the results on Saturday, September 21. 

Belgrade’s bid attracted 71% of the vote of members of the European Pride Organisers Association in a ballot at their Annual General Meeting in Bilbao earlier today.

Kristine Garina, President of the European Pride Organisers Association, said:

“Pride has always been a protest and EuroPride will have a huge impact for LGBTI people in Belgrade, Serbia and the whole region. I have seen for myself the violence and protests that Belgrade Pride has experienced in the past, and our members’ votes for Belgrade show that we want EuroPride to have maximum impact.”

Belgrade Pride’s history is one of violence and counter-protests from far-right and nationalist groups, and subsequent bans on the event taking place. Since 2014, the Pride has taken place successfully and with growing support. Belgrade Pride 2019 took place just one week ago.

EuroPride was founded in 1991 following a joint initiative of London, Amsterdam and Berlin. Since then, the event has seen monumental growth, promoting more than 90 member organizations in over 30 countries. To be nominated for the title is cause for celebration as it reflects the diversity of the LGBT+ community in the host country.

Following the induction of Dublin Pride into the European Pride Organisers Association (EPOA) as its 100th member, Dublin Pride announced it was running for EuroPride 2022. 

Winter Pride Maspalomas had withdrawn their bid, saying “We feel obliged to withdraw as a candidate for EuroPride 2022 as we can no longer guarantee the execution of the plans as stipulated in the presented bid book. […] We apologise for the inconvenience to EPOA and its members and wish all other candidates all the best.”

There were a total of five countries in the running to host EuroPride: Barcelona Pride, Belgrade Pride, Dublin Pride, and a combined bid from three member organizations, ILGA Portugal, Rede ex Aequo and Variações. Though the competition was steep, Belgrade Pride took home the victory. 

Kristine Garina paid tribute to the other bids, saying “Every one of the bids showed the power of Pride to change lives, and they all offered brilliant, inspiring and inclusive events. It’s sad that there can only be one winner, and I thank all the organisations for their hard work and commitment.”

On Twitter, Dublin Pride congratulated Belgrade for winning the 2022 bid, and said they have started working on their next bid to bring EuroPride to Dublin.

“Congrats to Belgrade Pride, it was a huge honor for Dublin Pride to bid along with Barcelona and Portugal to host EuroPride 2022. We’re looking forward to supporting such an important Pride event and we’ve already started working on our next bid to bring EuroPride to Dublin.”

Dublin Pride has made great strides in terms of the LGBT+ community in recent years, continuously growing and evolving to reflect current issues facing the community. During the launch of Dublin Pride 2019, it was announced that they will launch a brand new festival starting on November 27, Winter Pride.  

Pride in Ireland keeps getting bigger and better, paving the way forward in monumental ways. There are now numerous celebrations of Pride throughout Ireland, with a lot of festivities planned for the LGBT+ community to get excited about in the upcoming years. 

© 2019 GCN (Gay Community News). All rights reserved.

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