Warsaw's Equality Parade was banned twice. The following year twenty thousand people came - and two years after that, Strasbourg ruled the ban unlawful.
LGBTQ+ Friendly🌈 · Warsaw
Pride events cluster in the summer, but every city sets its own dates - Warsaw often runs its march and its parties a month apart from the next city on this list.
The Parada Równości has been held since 2001 and was founded by Szymon Niemiec. It was banned in 2004 and again in 2005, when the then mayor of Warsaw, Lech Kaczyński, refused permission on the grounds that the event promoted a "homosexual lifestyle". In 2006, straight after those bans, 20,000 attendees were recorded. The European Court of Human Rights ruled unanimously that the 2005 ban violated Articles 11, 13 and 14 of the European Convention, and in 2007 the ban was overturned.
That history is why Warsaw's march holds its character as a demonstration more plainly than some other European capitals: the right to hold it was won in court rather than granted. The parade takes place in summer and crosses the centre, with organisation blocs, banners and sound systems, and is accompanied by events, talks and parties across the surrounding days. The city's queer scene runs year-round in clubs and venues that change over time, with the centre and the area along the Vistula holding most of them. The list here shows LGBTQ+ friendly events as a whole, not only those falling inside the week of the march.
It was banned in 2004 and 2005; the second time the then mayor, Lech Kaczyński, refused permission, saying the event promoted a "homosexual lifestyle". The European Court of Human Rights ruled the ban unlawful and it was overturned in 2007.
In 2001, founded by Szymon Niemiec. In 2006, the year after the bans, 20,000 attendees were recorded.
