In 2022 I was invited to spend 11 days in Belgrade, living, helping and photographing the first EuroPride in Southeast Europe. After years of fighting for equality for the LGBTI+ community in the region, Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, was the first city in Southeast Europe and the first outside the EEA (European Economic Area) to host a major event for the pan-European LGBTI+ community.

This was a milestone for the LGBTI+ community in the whole region and the beginning of a new era. EuroPride in such a region was an opportunity for people from Europe to show their solidarity with the LGBTI+ community from the Western Balkans and praise them for their long-lasting struggle for equality, tolerance and human rights which started two decades ago with the first Pride held in 2001 in Belgrade.

EuroPride in Belgrade marks an important step along the path toward achieving equality for the LGBTI+ community in the Western Balkans, and will energise activists and the community for the long road yet to be travelled.