LGBTI Pride brightens up Pretoria.

The LGBTQIA community stepped out to celebrate the seventh annual Pretoria LGBTI Pride at Presleys in Lynnwood this Saturday.

The annual event, which consists of a parade and associated entertainment, aims to raise the visibility of the LGBTQIA community.

Organised by a volunteer board, the event serves as a celebration of an inclusive and diverse community.

Kicked off with a parade taking over five kilometres of Lynnwood Road, members, friends, allies, pageant winners and organisers showed off on floats and cars decorated with rainbows and slogans.

The seventh event for the organisation had to downscale due to restrictions but this year, even in heavy rain, the event is said to have over 500 attendees and a strong performance line-up.

Bruce Walker, the founder of Pretoria Pride, described the event as “a new Pretoria pride” and welcomes many more. Reminding the audience to love themselves and keep supporting all LGBTQIA initiatives. “We’re queer, get use to it!”

One of the initiatives introduced by Pretoria Pride was the Aurum Institute Pop Inn. The Pop Inn clinics offer free sexual health services to transgender women and men who have sex with men (MSM) across South Africa. It also provides free screenings for HIV, STIs and TB as well as a space to receive PrEP (pre-exposure prophylaxis), a medicine taken to prevent getting HIV.

ALSO READ: Local basketball team fights against gender-based violence

The outdoor event is planned to go on until 11pm weather permitting or not. Follow @PretoriaPride

Do you have more information about the story?

Please send us an email to editorial@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.

For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites: Rekord East

For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram