The city of Liège will be decked out in rainbow colours on for Pride this week – the first such event to ever be held in a Walloon city.
The theme of the city's first Pride will be 'Stop Harassment', the organisers announced on Thursday, aiming to highlight the daily harassment that LGBTQ+ people continue to face.
The organisers noted that a 2020 survey by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights found that 42% of LGBTQ+ individuals in Belgium have faced at least one instance of harassment in the past year, despite nationwide laws banning such behaviour.
Some 5,000 participants, around 15 floats and nearly 70 artists are expected to participate in the first Walloon Pride Parade, which will set off from Place Saint-Lambert in the centre of Liège on Saturday.
Alongside the parade, organisers have also planned evening events, a Pride village, shows, a brunch and an exhibition devoted to the rights of LGBTQ+ people on the premises of the FGTB Liège-Huy-Waremme. The Communauté du Christ Libérateur (Community of Christ the Liberator), a LGBTQ+ Christian association, has also organised a time of ecumenical prayer at 11:00 on Saturday in the church of Saint-Denis.
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Belgium's first Pride took place in Antwerp on 5 May 1979, when it was known as Roze Zaterdag (Pink Saturday). In subsequent years, other editions were organised in Ghent and Brussels. Since 1996, annual parades have taken place in Brussels, and in 1998 the event was renamed Lesbian & Gay Pride.
In 2008, Antwerp organised its first regional Pride. Today, Antwerp Pride and Brussels Pride each draw some 120,000 participants.
In Wallonia, a number of public initiatives have been and continue to be in place. However, an event resembling Brussels or Antwerp's Pride Parade has yet to occur, the Liège event organisers clarified.
