The Information Center “Genderdoc-M” is staging the annual festival of the LGBT community of Moldova “Rainbow over the Nistru”, which was launched on May 13. The festival ends on May 17 with an event that, according to the organizers, is one of the most important. The Equality March is expected to involve about 150 persons.
The Center’s executive director Anastasia Danilov, in a news conference at IPN, said the festival’s slogan this year is “Because I live here”. By this message they want to attract the people’s attention to the fact that the representatives of the LGBT community are also members of this society. “The LGBT community should not be ignored in this state because we are members of this society. This is the reason why we chose this slogan. We live here, work here and do our best to make this country better. We also pay taxes and bills,” stated Anastasia Danilova
Angela Frolov, program coordinator at “Genderdoc-M”, said video clips at several TV channels were broadcast before the festival. “The key message is that we need each other because we live here all together, despite the color of eyes and hair, nationality, sexual orientation, the language we speak, particular abilities or disabilities. We are all different in this state and our goal is to make everyone’s life better. We can do this if we join up, leaving prejudice aside,” she stated.
The festival was opened after the conference by solemnly hoisting the flag of the festival “Rainbow over the Nistru” at the head office of “Genderdoc-M”. At the Municipal Library “B.P. Hasdeu”, there was mounted an exhibition of photographs entitled “Because I live here”. It includes pictures of the daily life of members of the LGBT community. A press club meeting with journalists entitled “Homosexuality and Christianity” will be held on May 14. There will also be staged the evening of LGBT dignity and the ceremony to award prizes for promoting equality and contributing to the development of the LGBT movement in Moldova.
A conference titled “Our families here and now” will be staged on May 15. The play “Edith Piaf” will be put on at the Theater “Alexei Mateevici” in the evening. On May 16, the Zemstvei Museum will host the Rainbow Fair, while the Rainbow Lemonade will be held in the open air in the evening. The festival ends with the Equality March that is traditionally held on the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia on May 17.
