Athens Pride 2021

The rainbow won’t be dimmed. For its last outing, many of Athens Pride's signature celebrations were benched by Covid—the street parade, the live concerts, the roaring parties. To make up for it, Athens Pride Week 2021 extends over the whole summer, and climaxes on Saturday, September 11—Athens Pride Day—with a colourful parade embarking at 7pm from Klathmonos Square and finishing up at Syntagma. Alas, there'll be none of the pre-pandemic swag bag of concert and kiosks; and masks and social distancing will be in play; but all things considered, we’ll take the win. 

Now in its 17th year, Athens Pride has grown from a modest fringe event to a mainstream celebration of gay rights that promotes inclusiveness and tolerance right across the city. This year’s theme—“This is What Unites Us”—addresses our difficult and uncertain times, in the context of a pandemic that has sparked a heightened global climate of prejudice, discrimination and fear.

Kicking things off (from 18-25 July) is a week devoted to queer entertainment, community engagement and creative expression. The programme guide is in Greek but we’ve selected some Athens Pride Week highlights—both online and off—for you to dive into:

Pride Village 
Find your Athens tribe and make new playmates from 23-25 July in the courtyard of urban hotspot Technopolis in Gazi. There will be a community of kiosks from over two dozen LGBT organisations and LGBT-supporting brands such as International Amnesty, Orlando LGBT, Rainbow Families and Rainbow Seniors,Transcare Project, Heineken, Durex, Proud Parents, Zaatar and Color Youth. - Read more

Fresh Flare
From urban areas to vast rural landscapes, housing estates to hair salons, churches to nightclubs, you’ll travel all around the UK in this superb series of free online screenings that spotlight many talented and courageous queer voices from the world of British short cinema. Fresh Flare is a collab of the British Council and the Athens International Film Festival Premiere Nights. The films will be available from Sunday 18 July from 11.00 am until Sunday 25 July at midnight, 23.59 (after 00.00 they will be withdrawn) for a limited number of screenings. To catch them, you’ll need to create an account on the online.aiff.gr  platform and secure your free ticket from the home page. - Read more

Greek Queer Food Identities
Not all gay women are vegetarians and not all gay men prefer coloured cocktails. Express your food truths and shatter those stereotypes by sharing photos and stories that address the burning question: "what is queer food culture for you?". Perhaps it’s something you ate that first time you shared your identity with someone; a treat you turn to when you’re feeling lonely; or something you eat every day because it expresses you. Use the hashtags #GreekQueerFoodIdentities #PrideFoodStories on Instagram or shoot off an email to [email protected] - Read more

Take the #AthensPrideDanceChallenge
Get into the Athens Pride Week groove from wherever you are by stepping up to this social media dance challenge by Dimitris Kokkonis of Rainbow Dancers: a short choreography to Montero by Lil NasX. There’s options for everyone; whether you’re mobility impaired, a free-style performer, or a living legend on the dance floor. #AthensPrideDanceChallenge - Read more

All Athens Pride events including the format of Athens Pride Day and Parade will be configured to conform to all current health directives.