Baltic Pride 2013 will take place 23-27 July in Vilnius. Though the March for Equality scheduled to take place on 27 July has received a lot of attention, it should not overshadow the rich variety of cultural programme of the week-long Pride festival.

The exhibition “From Dusk till Dawn – 20 Years of LGBT Freedom in Lithuania”, hosted in the Contemporary Art Centre, is the first exhibition of LGBT history and culture in Lithuania, showing pivotal moments of the LGBT movement since decriminalisation of homosexual acts in 1993 up to the present day. The historical documentation (photographs, TV reportages, publications) together with art works reveal the political, social and individual struggle for equal rights and recognition.

Kitoks Kinas LGBT Film Festival features 18 fiction and documentary films shown in original languages with Lithuanian and English subtitles. Several films will be presented by the directors, and the festival will also feature a lecture by José Arroyo from the University of Warwick (UK) on the cinema of Pedro Almodóvar.

Other events include a literature reading with award-winning poet Eileen Myles (US), several photography exhibitions during and around the Pride week, and grassroots community events such as workshops given by young LGBT activists and a fair of independent queer publishing.

The international human rights conference “Towards a European Roadmap for LGBT Equality” will bring together human rights defenders and policy-makers from around Europe to assess the situation of LGBT rights and the work still needs to be done in this area.

Lithuanian Gay League (LGL), i.e. the main organiser of Baltic Pride 2013, wants the festival to look as diverse as its participants. We warmly invite you to Baltic Pride 2013 in Vilnius to participate, discuss, be inspired, and take an important step towards equality and diversity.

See the whole programme here.