Stanimir Panayotov
On June the 27th Sofia will be hosting a Rainbow Friendship Rally, this year organized by a larger coalition consisting of NGOs and business supporters, among which there are The Bulgarian Gay Organization "Gemini", ID Mix Club, Resource Center for Bi & Lesbian Women "Bilitis" and Bulgarian Activist Alliance. This will be the second event of its kind to be held in Sofia, Bulgaria, following last year's Gay Pride Rally "Me and My Family".
On the very same date the world is celebrating the 40th anniversary of the historic riots at Stonewall Inn, the event that prompted the very outburst and developments in LGBT emancipation and rights protection worldwide.
The program includes an earlier briefeng on the topic "Understanding Hate Speech and Hate Crimes", supported and backed by international guests from LGBT organizations, as well as EU representatives, and after the rallty a cultural program will be running, which is kindly hosted by Red House center for Culture and Debate, all this followed by after party at yhe Id Mix Club.
The special guests of the Rainbow Friendship event will beprominent EU MPs and human rights advocates, a multitude of representatives of international organizations, as well embassadors, celebrities and others, all standing behind the idea that gender, race, sexual orientation, religion and origin are not a border among people.
The idea is that we all gather and celebrate together, flooding up the streets with variouse tunes from the house, disco, hip-hop and other scenes. More news are to follow soon, such as the route, more confirmed guests and supporters, as well all the other exciting celebration paraphernalia!
