Pride Parade dedicated to unveiling the invisible

Starting with a screening of Andrea Weiss's new documentary Bones of Contention, the festival will feature more than 15 different events - from exhibitions and discussions to concerts - and will culminate with the traditional gay pride parade through the streets of Ljubljana on 17 June.

According to the organisers, discrimination in the society is still very much alive.

Head organiser Simona Muršec said at a press conference on Tuesday that the Slovenian social system, including the same-sex partnership law that formally equalised same-sex unions this year except for adoptions and in-vitro fertilisation, still allowed discrimination.

It was an important step forward but a bitter aftertaste remains, as the last ten years have shown how the Slovenian society still reacts with a specific resistance to everything related to same-sex orientation, gender identity and expression, she stressed.

Because of this lack of actual freedom and acceptance, the festival is part of a fight "for a certain change in the society, certain social justice", Muršec said.

The festival also demands responsibility from decision makers, sending them a clear message that there is "no excuse for not legally recognising transgender persons, for allowing referendums on human rights...for systematically jeopardising the health of transsexual and intersex persons".

According to Lovro Centrih, who prepared the visual part of this year's festival, intersex persons are one of the most invisible groups in the Slovenian LGBTIQ+ community even though as many as two to three percent of children are born with intersex characteristics.

This considerable part of society that remains hidden below the surface is reflected in the choice of yellow and black for the festival logo and poster, he said.

Yellow is the colour of non-binary gender, so it represents all genders, while black carries a message because it is perceived the same by everyone, Centrih explained.