Bloemfontein to celebrate 5th annual Free State Pride

Free State Pride returns to Bloemfontein this Saturday when the Free State’s LGBTIQ community takes to the streets to march for equality and inclusion.

This year’s Pride event includes a number of events such as a gala dinner, a mass dialogue and a Pride Picnic. It all culminates in the Pride March and the crowning of Mr and Miss Free State Pride.

The march, under the theme of “I Am Pride”, kicks off at Hoffman Square in Bloemfontein on Saturday 25 March at 11am. It ends at the VIC (Visitor Information Centre) where the post-parade celebrations and pageant will take place.

There will also be free HIV Testing, TB and STI screenings, and the distribution of condoms to help promote safer sex.

A host of groups and government departments including the TAC, the Department of Health, Anova Health, LoveLife and the University of the Free State have been invited to take part.

Free State LGBTIQ Pride is traditionally hosted on or close to Human Rights Day (21 March) “to celebrate our rights as south Africans” and “for the general population to understand that we too as the LGBTIQ are human,” said Zenny Kgolokwane from LGBTI group Rainbow Seeds, which organises the event.

Kgolokwane told Mambaonline that she hopes that “more parents will attend the event and celebrate a day in our lives” this year.

When asked what she would say to members of the LGBTIQ community to inspire them to take part, she responded that, “the LGBTIQ must learn to support each another and be active in educating others”.

She added: “We too have responsibilities and a life to live without having to explain ourselves every other day. Pride is a platform for such conversations and not [just] a day to get drunk and forget our morals and the key purpose of celebrating our existence.”

For more information visit the Free State Pride Facebook page.