HOSI Pride Festival 2023

HOSI is kicking off its pride festival this Saturday, and I had a nice talk with Conny Felice and Sarah Thome to have a better glimpse at it.

Pride has been happening in Salzburg for over 20 years, although back in the day it had a different name and consisted of 30/40 people demonstrating for the rights. A far cry from the over 3000 people present at last year's pride parade in Salzburg. Which doesn't mean it has no place to grow.

Conny told me that although there has been a great development of rights in favor of the community, there has been a slow regress happening within the society in some countries, and HOSI‘s goal is to make sure it doesn't happen in Salzburg. "From the legal aspect a lot has happened, also in society, there is no comparison to 50 years ago, but we have been aware that in some countries, such as USA and so there has been a little regress and we in Salzburg are very vigilant about it, and in it is my opinion that if we keep going in the same line as we have in the last 10 years we might also experience that society development here: when people do not know exactly why we are doing it, and we stay in a bubble that is colorful and different, but doesn't overlap with the rest of the society."

The pride festival is here to build a bridge within society and bring awareness to the LGBTQIA+ community. The program is extremely diverse, from cultural events to dialogues and it has been thought out to bring different people from different backgrounds together in different kinds of situations. 

That means cooking workshops, Posing, informative workshops, poetry slams, A brunch with Gigi La Pajette, and of course the Pride Parade and HOSI party. And in case you want to support HOSI and the community, the best way to do it is to go to the events in Pride week! Of course, you can also become a member, but with so many diverse events it will be easy to guarantee the success of this year's festival!