Stockholm Pride is part of a global movement where celebrations of pride in different ways are used as a tool to improve the living situations and human rights for the LGBT-community. A movement with a common origin in the Stonewall riots in New York in 1969, when members of the LGBT-community manifested their pride and fellowship by opposing a harassing policeman. The fight for liberation and equality for the LGBT-community has took place in Stockholm in various forms since 1979, when the Swedish movement for sexual equality, RFSL, arranged the first “liberation week”. Since 1998, Stockholm Pride is an independent non-profit organisation.

Stockholm Gay Pride

Stockholm Gay Pride 2014

Stockholm Pride’s Purpose

Stockholm Pride is according to its statutes meant for those who feel part of and respect the culture that has its roots in the lives of homosexual, bisexual, transgender- and queer person’s lives. This is manifested by the organisation through the annual arrangement of the cultural festival Stockholm Pride. Stockholm Pride is politically and religiously independent.

Stockholm Pride operates with the aim to strengthen the LGBTQ-community’s living situation and rights. The aim of the organisation is to visualize the heteronormativity in our society and the LGBTQ-community at large. The festival is a joyful free zone for the LGBTQ-community, and strives to make it possible for members of the LGBTQ-community to take place in public space.

Stockholm Pride’s mix of party, politics and culture is an important starting point for all activity made, standing for happiness, earnest and amazing experiences, which inspires and spread knowledge. The Stockholm Pride organisation doesn’t run up for specific political questions but enables for others to bring them forth. However, by choosing themes for the festival and the part of the festival programme created by the organisation itself, the organisation has a power of directing the focus to subjects we think are important to raise to public debate. When the LGBTQ-community is so multifaceted and contains so many different voices, it is the organisation’s quest to become a platform for different operators to take own initiatives and make their voices heard. The organisation also supports other Pride events in Sweden and abroad.

Our Values

• The Stockholm Pride organisation endorses the European Convention on Human Rights.
• The Stockholm Pride organisation works to improve the LGBTQ-community’s rights and take distance from all kinds of discrimination, such as racism, sexism, homophobia and transphobia.
• The Stockholm Pride organisation is working with solidarity to other movements who risk being discriminated and oppression, and that work with the same spirit as Stockholm Pride.
• The Stockholm Pride organisation is open for anyone who shares the above values.

How It All Started

Pride Celebrations for 41 Years

Stockholm Pride is not just any summer festival. For the LGBT-community over the whole world the celebrations of Pride is as much renown and important as feasts like Christmas or New Years Eve.

The celebration of Pride has its origin in the birth of the American gay movement in New York City the 27-29 June 1969. The police was harassing the LGBT-community and 27 June the police made a raid on the gay bar Stonewall Inn on Christopher Street. But for the first time the guests of the bar fought back and started a riot that lasted for three days. Since these riots occurred, celebrations are held across the world to commemorate the turning point of the LGBT-community when we started to fight back against the harassment and so bravely spoke up with pride over their identity and their culture.

Pride is Celebrated Across the World

Initially the memory was manifested in form of political demonstrations but during the 1980’s the character of these manifestations changed and became more of public festivals. Many big cities, in countries where homosexual love was not a crime, have their own Pride celebrations and in cities like New York, London, Paris, Berlin, San Fransisco, São Paulo, Tel Aviv, Bangkok, Taipei and Sydney these events attract hundreds of thousands of participants.

In Sweden, Pride has been celebrated in many different ways and already in 1979 the national LGBT-organisation RFSL organised the first “Homosexual Liberation Week”. Since Stockholm was the Capital of Culture in1998 hosting Stockholm EuroPride, it is the independent non-profit organisation Stockholm Pride that organises the festival. RFSL among many other organisations and single individuals are part of the organisation’s members.

The Rainbow Flag Carry our Colours

The rainbow colours and the rainbow flag is since 1978 the most known international symbol for homosexual solidarity. It was created by the artist Gilbert Baker and originally consisted of eight colours instead of the present six: hot pink, red, orange, Spanish yellow, green, turquoise, indigo and violet. As the flag increased in popularity in the San Franciscos Pride parade, they stopped using hot pink and indigo and turquoise became blue. In The Village in New York, in Soho in London, in the Castro in San Francisco and Santa Monica Blvd in Los Angeles the rainbow flag waves proudly even on the flag poles of local authorities. That is also the situation during Pride here in Stockholm, when the whole city is decorated with the rainbow colours. Naturally the six colours of the rainbow flag are also the colours used for the symbol for Stockholm Pride where they represent our beautiful city’s incredible location spread over islands, always close to water. The symbol for Stockholm Pride was created by Andreas “Andy” Gunnarsson for Stockholm EuroPride 1998.

Pride is not only celebrated in Stockholm. Around the world there are at least another 140 gay pride festivals, parties and carnivals.

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