Yet another Pride report? Yes! But can one get too much of Pride? No!
From May to September this year, we gave you a taste of Pride all over Europe, taking you to Maspalomas, Berlin, Bergen and now Trondheim. Norway’s most famous university city hosts Pride early September every year, as we explained in our previous article. This year’s Pride activities included a lesbian hangout, a free-popcorn movie night, an open mic night, an excursion with dogs, a drag show, and parties – just to name a few. It’s been a fantastically uplifting week of events, but let us highlight just one in more detail: the panel discussion on being “Illegally Queer”.
In addition to fun events, every Pride aims to include more serious happenings as well. This year, “Illegally Queer” was one such event, organized by Amnesty International and Skeiv Verden (“Queer World”). One of the three panellists was Anna, representing qLit and Hungary, who introduced the Hungarian LGBTQ situation and the challenges faced by volunteer-run organizations in hostile environments. In addition, Amr, originally from Syria, spoke about his experiences in his home country and neighboring Lebanon, as well as addressing the situation of LGBTQ refugees. The third panelist was Oslo-based Aasmund, a Norwegian veteran activist, who reflected on how the struggles in Hungary and the Middle East resonate with what he lived through in Norway in the 1960s, when homosexuality was illegal. (Briefly, his answer was: very much so!)
Despite the seriousness and bitterness of the topic, it was an enjoyable discussion. One of the main conclusions was that we must not stop – even in places like Norway, where many people believe that Pride has no meaning anymore, because “everyone has equal rights”.
But we should not be discouraged either, even in places like Hungary, because, as the Polish-born moderator reminded us, the situation is now much more promising in her native country, which two years ago seemed like an LGBTQ hellhole. Nothing lasts forever!
