Oslo Pride or How teenagers think they can benefit from LGBT-achievements

By Sandra Showtime on Monday, June 29, 2009 - 18:57

From the 19th – 28th June the Skeive Dage, the Norwegian Pride Week, took place in Oslo. As a newly resident I was very excited to witness how Norway celebrates diversity. Several concerts, art exhibitions, parties and a film festival guided one through the week and on Saturday it was time for the traditional parade.

Some days before there was a lively discussion going on in the media whether or not there should be behavioral rules and dress codes for the event. While I appreciate open dialogues like this it seemed a little off the mark considering they were talking about Norwegians, with a rather not so stepping out mentality. Actually, I’d have bet my favorite rosary that guests and participants of the parade even would have pulled numbers for positions if someone would have built an automat for that.

As expected the public orgy failed to appear. The around 15,000 spectators and I experienced a rather relaxed and decent parade.  Having equal rights already successfully installed in Norway, it’s no surprise that their main focus was on supporting the rights of queer folks in other countries.

Legalize Love! Homosexuality is illegal in over 80 countries.

Besides the usual LGBT-initiators there were lots of queer families walking the parade, together with presenters of public offices and bigger companies. Everyone wanted to show their support, it was nice to watch.