By Hasse-Nima Golkar

LOVE IS LOVE AND KNOWS NO BOUNDARIES!

The annual recurring “Stockholm Pride”, which is primarily aimed at L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ people (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, asexual, etc.) started on August 1 and ends on August 7, 2022.

Today, August 6, 2022, after a two-year break due to the corona pandemic, started again the glamorous rainbow manifestation.

Stockholm Pride started for the first time on July 27, 1998, for boundless love, joy, and the equal value of all people. According to the organizers, Stockholm Pride is Scandinavia’s largest with approximately 50,000 participants and 500,000 in the audience who march dancing and stomping 4.5 kilometers through the streets of the central parts of Sweden’s capital.

During this year’s Stockholm Pride, participants came from all social classes and strata, all parliamentary parties except the racist Sweden Democrats, NGO organizations, trade unions (tied to the ruling Social Democratic Party), and the civil and military authorities.

Over the years, the Pride festival has gone through both crises and conflicts: In 2003, the right-wing extremist organization “National Democratic Youth” attacked Stockholm Pride.

In 2011, the festival was at risk of going bankrupt after having a free entry for all visitors to the festival area.

Since 2016, the radical anarchists (belonging to the “pink-black bloc”) have boycotted participation in “Stockholm Pride” in protest against the increasingly commercially oriented event.