Bologna, April 5, 2024 – The Onda Pride, the large LGBTQ+ event that annually connects the dozens of Pride events held in Italian cities, kicks off tomorrow, Saturday, April 6, from Sanremo. The Pride events scheduled for 2024 are listed on the website. ondapride.it, There are currently 40: after tomorrow's parade in Sanremo, the Parma Pride will take place on May 18th, followed by the Pride events in Alessandria, Modena, and Terni on May 25th. The parades in Perugia, Ferrara, Padua, Pavia, Savona, and Taranto will be held on June 1st, while Genoa and Syracuse will be on June 8th. The capital, Rome, will be tinged with rainbow colors on June 15th, along with Bergamo, Catania, and Terni, while Verona will focus on Sunday, June 16th. Eight Pride parades have been scheduled for Saturday, June 22nd—in Cosenza, Ancona, Frosinone, La Spezia, Lecco, Palermo, Varese, and Vicenza—and another five will be held the following Saturday, June 29th, in Milan, Naples, Cagliari, Pescara, and Ragusa. July opens on Saturday the 6th with parades in Bologna, Cremona, and Lecce, while on July 13th there will be parades in Belluno and Isernia. Two Pride events are currently scheduled for August: Rimini on the 4th and Lignano on the 31st. On September 14th, Vesuvio Pride arrives in Torre del Greco, while on October 12th, the closing of the Onda nelle Alpi will be celebrated at Aosta Pride. Tomorrow's demonstration in Sanremo commemorates the first Italian demonstration of LGBTQ+ activists, which took place in Sanremo on April 5, 1972, in reaction to a sexology conference promoting so-called "reparative theories." Tomorrow's march will depart at 3:30 PM from Corso Salvo D'Acquisto.
“"In a country now intoxicated by bonuses and amnesties, bribes distributed extemporaneously to gain electoral consensus, Onde Pride finally puts the issue of rights – human, civil, and social – back at the center as a measure of equality for all before the state and its laws," said Gabriele Piazzoni, general secretary of Arcigay. He continues: "Pride is a mobilization that speaks of pride and honesty, in a country where the crafty, the liars, and the cheats often seem to prevail. Let us once again take our lives, our stories, our bodies to the streets, because being there stubbornly, openly occupying public space, traversing our cities, is a political act, not equally easy for everyone and in every part of the world. But that act, in its perseverance, prevents those who govern, those who recognize or deny rights, from looking the other way. To the millions of people who will take to the streets with us, I wish an extraordinary season of pride," concludes Piazzoni.
