This Saturday is Sofia's 5th annual Pride Parade. That's June 30th at 4pm. The parade will start at the Soviet Monument (by the university metro stop).

I'll be going because this is an important event. One that celebrates the diversity and the complexity of the world that we live in. I've written in the past about <a href="http://www.karolinkabulgaria.com/2010/06/21/notes-from-sofia-pride-parade/" target="_blank">why I march in the Pride Parade</a> and this year I'll be marching for all of these reasons and more.

Ultimately, I'm marching because I believe it's the right thing to do.

More specifically, this year I'll be marching because it's important to stand up to bullies.<!--more-->

Especially bullies like <a href="http://www.advocate.com/politics/religion/2012/06/27/bulgarian-priest-urges-violence-pride-parade" target="_blank">Father Evgenii the Bulgarian Orthodox priest</a> who is calling on protesters to throw stones at marchers and more generally the <a href="http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=140300" target="_blank">Orthodox church is which is condemning the event</a>. It is never okay to stand by while others are being threatened either verbally or physically because they do not fit into someone's idea of what normal is.

I am marching on Saturday because there are people who need my support. There many individuals in our community, and in the larger world, do not feel free to comfortably express all the traits that make them who they are on a daily basis, because they feel they will be bullied, harassed, excluded, or even physically injured for fully expressing their individuality and I'm marching for them.

I am marching because it's the right thing to do and the least that I can do.

Want to know more?

Here's a link to <a href="http://www.sofiapride.info/en" target="_blank">the Sofia Pride event</a>.
<iframe src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/G6BwUD1Dozo" frameborder="0" width="560" height="315"></iframe>
And here's a very powerful video put together by Amnesty International to coincide with our march on Saturday urging Bulgarian authorities to amend its legislation to define attacks against people on the basis of their real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity as hate crimes.

Or maybe you'd just like to sign a petition urging the Sofia mayor to<a href="http://www.allout.org/en/actions/bulgaria/taf" target="_blank"> Stop the Hate at Sofia Pride</a>.