One of Prague’s biggest parties — the annual Pride Parade — will not take place in August as scheduled due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.

The 10th edition of the Prague Pride festival will be held from August 3 to 9. However, according to the organizers, putting on the parade was just too much of a risk.

Compared to last year, there will probably half of the events happening. The program will include a wide range of activities, from community picnics to stream debates and music transmissions. The Pride House will host discussions just like in previous years.

Organizers plan an online program instead of the parade, offering content and connections with other places hosting Pride meetings and parties.

Last year the parade brought together about 30 thousand people.

The Prague Pride festival takes place every year in August, all the way since 2011. The festival lasts a week and regularly presents over 100 cultural and social activities, public discussions and debates, sports events, and spiritual encounters.

The festival is prepared by a team of volunteers, and lead since 2018 by Hana Kulhánková.

For updated information regarding the 10^th edition of the Prague Pride festival, please follow the official Facebook event

This year’s Prague Pride will parade through Prague Center on Saturday the 10th of August. The route will stay the same as previous years, with the starting point at Václavské Náměstí to Letná. The approximate number of participants is 30 thousand people celebrating the lives of the LGBTQIA+ community.

The festival with a parade first happened in August 2011. Back then it attracted a will conundrum of conservative people protesting against it, as according to them it was an obscene showcase that was trying to force the idea of homosexuality on them. This phrase was also used by at the time president Václav Klaus, which according to him, it was something that needed to be fought against. Fortunately, the protests kept getting weaker and weaker with every passing year and now Prague Pride participants can feel safer than in previous years.

The festival will begin on Monday the 5th of August and will last until the Sunday of the 11th, the program, however, has still not been released. The carnival parade will go from Václavské Náměstí through the street Na Příkopě to náměstí Republiky, from there it will continue through Revoluční, Řásnovka, and Klášterská to Dvořákovo nábřeží. The parádě will walk through náměstí Curieových to Čechův bridge and after that up to the stairs to Letná, where in the past years, people could then enjoy a concert.

Gay couples can get a registered partnership since 2006

According to the organizers, the number of people interested in Prague Pride keeps rising every year. Last year 92 thousand people visited the week-long festivities, with two-fifths of the people from Prague, 29% of them from other regions of Czech Republic, 6% from Slovakia and one fourth from other countries. 40 thousand people joined the parade according to the organizers.

The Prague Pride society, that organizes the parade and festival is together with five other organizations a member of the coalition for marriage, that is fighting for marriage for everyone; gay and lesbian.

Same-sex couples of men and women can officially have a registered partnership which becomes legal in 2006. From 2006 to last year, according to the Platform for equality, made 1854 men and 1163 women in official partnerships.

It’s been a year that gay marriage has been discussed in the Chamber of Deputies, which would then allow marriage for everyone. However, Members of Parliament are also supposed to discuss the idea that would only make a marriage between a man and women legal.