Prague Pride Festival 2025 Thematic Concept
LGBT+ people exist.
LGBT+ people exist because they have fought for their existence.
We exist because we have decided to exist. To describe our reality in language and carve out a space in society that encompasses our desires and beliefs.
Our existence has taken years, even centuries, to come into being.
Now we are here, and resistance is growing stronger.
Nationalist tendencies, disinformation, and propaganda are on the rise. Targeted campaigns often focus on creating and exaggerating conflicts between traditional values and LGBT+ rights, destabilizing society and fostering a polarized environment that fuels extremist and populist forces. This negative trend is particularly evident in Central and Eastern Europe, where right-wing populist governments use cultural and social conservatism as a tool to gain political support. LGBT+ rights frequently become a target to reinforce nationalist discourses promoted by local governments.
The year 2025 will see another parliamentary election in the Czech Republic.
While the situation for LGBT+ people is improving—thanks to the adoption of a partnership law, the removal of the sterilization requirement for legal gender change, and the allowance for gay men to donate blood—Central and Eastern Europe remains a hostile environment for LGBT+ individuals. This hostility threatens the Czech Republic as well.
This situation leads LGBT+ people to ask:
WHERE IS MY HOME?
…The Czech Republic is our home.
The history of the Czech Republic is closely tied to the ideas of freedom and resistance to oppression. From the Hussite movement to the national revival and the fight against communist dictatorship—these historical events have shaped Czech identity, with equality and justice always being key principles in its formation. We see the struggle for LGBT+ rights as a continuation of this tradition.
Queer history and culture, though often suppressed or invisible, are an inseparable part of national identity and pride.
Home…
- “Home is a more or less coherent image of a circle of close, familiar people connected to the material environment where one has lived for an extended period (an apartment, house, landscape), filled with a sense of belonging, security, and background. Home is an expression of an emotional relationship to one’s closest world—it is the appropriation, humanization, and intimacy of this world.” ~ Sociological Encyclopedia
- “Home is where they welcome you when you arrive.” ~ Kateřina Tučková
- “Home is where I don’t feel like going anywhere else. I could stay there for weeks without leaving. I only need books, things I love, things I need to touch—stones, plants, objects from my ancestors that ended up here with me. But above all, home is Magda, my partner, the person with whom I have shared over thirty years of my life.” ~ Libuše Jarcovjáková
- “Home is more than just a physical place—it is a space where we can be accepted as we truly are.” ~ Prague Pride
The Search for Home
For LGBT+ people, finding home is a challenge hindered by legislation, the political direction of the country, societal prejudices, family issues, and the mental health impacts of all these factors.
Can we have a home in a country that restricts our right to self-identification, marriage, or child adoption—or in one where laws criminalize our existence?
Can we have a home in a society where deep-rooted prejudices against our lived experiences prevail?
Can we find home in communities where we are not represented?
Can we have a home in families that cast us out?
Can we find home when we cannot find ourselves?
Where is my home?
This question resonates with all of us—not only because of the opening lines of the Czech national anthem. “Where is my home?” is an intimate thought, a deeply personal question, part of searching for one’s identity, place in the world, and relationship with the country in which we live.
The question “Where is my home?” expresses a fundamental human need to belong—to have a place that provides security, stability, and shapes our identity. Home is where our roots are. Home is where we grew up. Home is where our loved ones are. Home is where we can be ourselves.
Where is your home?
Thematic Program Areas
Where is my home?
~ The main theme and central question of Prague Pride 2025. Where and how do LGBT+ people find home? What are the obstacles, and what helps in the process of finding home? ~
Czechia, my home
~ What is life like for LGBT+ people in the Czech Republic? What does Czechia give us, and what do we give to it? How do we change its face, and how does the Czech environment shape our life stories? ~
Lightning Over the Tatras
~ In Slovakia, storm clouds are gathering, but not for better times. This area focuses on reflecting on the situation of our neighbors, with a specific emphasis on the growing threats to LGBT+ people in Slovakia. ~
When Home is Not a Safe Space
~ When home is not a safe space, we can feel lost. How does the absence of security affect our mental health? How can we create safe environments for our loved ones and for children and young people? ~
Homo, Sweet Homo
~ Home is, among other things, in the details. Photos of loved ones, travel souvenirs, a vase inherited from ancestors. How can we shape our home to be truly “home sweet home”? ~