Kosovo LGBT Activists Add Novel Touches to Pride Week

The Third Pride Week in Kosovo began on Monday with a reception in the government building where several top officials, including the President, Hashim Thaci, were present. The opening will continue with Majlinda Hoxha's artistic exhibition, "QUEIN," at the Institute for Urbanism and Design.

"This is the first time that an exhibition with LGBT community participants, telling their stories through the camera, has been shown in Kosovo," Blert Morina, CEO of the main LGBTI rights organisation, the Center for Equality and Liberty, CEL, told BIRN.

On Thursday, a parade will be held in the centre of the capital under the slogan "Whoever your heart beats for." Morina told BIRN that the idea behind the slogan was to make the Pride Week and the parade as inclusive as possible.

"The activities are intertwined so everyone can find themselves and contribute based on their personal preferences. Whoever your heart beats for, you will find yourself in this year's Pride Parade," he said.

"We consider this a very broad topic because it can stand for freedom, for a person, for a parent, for a lover, for gaining your human rights and so on," he added.

"The Pride Parade does not deal with only the LGBT community rights but with all human rights because Kosovo has much work to do in this regard, not only for LGBTIs but for every other group."

This year's parade was designed to "bring light to the debate on LGBT rights as well as increase the visibility and self-confidence of …  members of the LGBT community," he continued.

The Pride Week includes a range of new activities that have never been done before, such as a debate titled "Legislation: Used and Lost Opportunities", looking at institutional responses to LGBT rights issues in legislation...

Continue reading on: