BRATISLAVA, July 31, (WEBNOVINY ) – Organizers of the Rainbow PRIDE Bratislava, the biggest event of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender people in Slovakia, express disappointment over the draft program statement of the new center-right government, which does not mention the issue of equal rights for non-heterosexual people. They point out that although the government wants to strengthen the existing, or adopt new government programs and institutional mechanisms aimed at a thorough protection of human rights of marginalized and disadvantaged groups, it just refers to old legislative norms, which do not include gays and lesbians, while the government does not say how it wants to help them. The government program statement is vague and unclear; it lacks a strong position on the increase in displays of racism, homophobia, xenophobia, sexism, nationalism, anti-Semitism, dealing with them and eliminating them, said PR manager of Rainbow PRIDE Bratislava, Romana Schlesinger. According to her, this indirectly plays in favor of extremists, who last showed at the Rainbow PRIDE march that they are able to use violence against common people, including children, too. “The state, which we pay primarily for protecting us, therefore fails in its operation, from our point of view,” she added.
SITA