North Macedonia hosts first pride parade

North Macedonia's capital Skopje hosted the first Pride Parade, the Macedonian Information Agency (MIA) reported on Saturday.

According to MIA, the Pride Parade march started at noon in the park in front of the National Assembly in the center of Skopje and went through the city streets to end up at the City Park, where North Macedonian artists and singers performed to entertain the participants.

Present at the parade, North Macedonian Minister of Labor and Social Policy Mila Carovska said that today they showed that they are visible and that they can support all those who were invisible and discriminated for years, promising themselves never to let violence happen in the country again.

The lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community is here to stay and if they do not recognize this, they are losing a great potential for the country, said Carovska.

Maja Morachanin, lawmaker and member of the Inter-party group for LGBT rights underlined that North Macedonia moved in the right direction, in the spirit of the European values of respecting human rights and fundamental freedoms, solidarity, equal opportunities and tolerance of diversities.

North Macedonia joins for the first time other countries that organize Pride Parades for the LGBT community.

On March 11, North Macedonia parliament adopted the law on the prevention and protection against discrimination, which prohibits any discrimination based on race, origin, nationality or ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, religion, political beliefs, or any other grounds.