Croatia to stage twelfth pride march in protest for equal marriage
A Croatian gay pride parade will take to the streets on Saturday against a backdrop of a proposed referendum to define marriage as a heterosexual union.
The event follows the recently planned initiative intended to rule out the possibility of legalising same-sex marriages.
LGBT campaigners against the referendum plan to march in Croatia’s capital city, Zagreb. “We don’t want to hear any more that we’re second class citizens or guests in our own country,” stated one supporter.
More than 700,000 people signed a recent petition to change the constitution to define marriage as “the lifelong union of a woman and a man,” but opponents are now stepping forward to continue the fight against homophobic discrimination.
The planned occasion marks the twelfth gay pride event in the country. The parade’s motto will be “This is a land for every one of us,” and organisers are now calling upon all Croatians to take part, regardless of their sexual orientation.
Last Saturday, another gay pride parade was held in the second biggest Croatian city of Split, with foreign minister Vesna Pusic and Split mayor Ivo Baldasar attending.
Several Croatian celebrities, such as television anchors Zoran Sprajc and Aleksandar Stankovic, and rock musician Mile Kekin, also recorded video clips to support gay rights in Croatia.
“We cannot give up. We cannot allow hate to become a family value,” added one participant on the Zagreb Pride website.
