On June 27, Petar Odak took part in Split Pride. This was the 15th Pride march in Split, with around 300–400 people attending.
This year, the political theme of the march was the kind of schools, pedagogies, and societies we have and the kind we are working toward. As the organizers said in their speech: “We want to talk about the right of children to not have to hide themselves in order to learn. (…) This year, fifteen years have passed since the first Pride in Split. The children who sat in school classrooms back then are adults today. Some of them are parents. Yet young LGBTIQ+ people continue to face violence, rejection, and the feeling that there is no place for them in a school environment that should be safe for everyone.”
This year’s slogan — “Nije me mater rodila da mučin” [“My mother didn’t bear me to be silent”] — touches on the said silence of queer people, including children, including in schools; however, it doesn’t stop there, as it also appropriates proverbial Dalmatian spite (dišpet, in the local dialect) and invokes immediate family as a resource of strength, support, and love. This comes as both a heartwarming and somewhat unexpected, even provocative, twist: the institution of family should not be identified with traditional values and rejection of difference, but can be, and often is, a way to live out exactly this difference.
The atmosphere at Split Pride was easygoing and celebratory — local activists and supporters mixed with tourists, some there to show solidarity, others simply there to sing, dance, and enjoy themselves.