Visibly proud

Athens Pride is a celebration of visibility. It is a public recognition of human rights and equality. Though Pride Month looked different this year as the country emerged from the Covid-19 pandemic, it was nonetheless important to celebrate the LGBTQ+ communities and rejoice in the advances made toward equality, fundamental rights and dignity. As ambassador of Canada, and a gay man myself, it was an honor to partner with Athens Pride to bring some visibility to this year’s Pride celebrations with our #VisiblyProud campaign. 

We invited Greek leaders from politics, culture, journalism and other fields of endeavor to stand #VisiblyProud with us, wearing our campaign’s protection mask to show their support, or allyship, with the global movement for LGBT pride. The response was enormously gratifying. As expected, many welcomed the opportunity to stand #VisiblyProud in support of tolerance and human rights. Their “selfies” figure visibly across our social media platforms and will continue to do so over the summer.

Both Greece and Canada are steadfast in our commitment to defend human rights, and to champion core values of equality, pluralism and respect for diversity. I would like to thank parliamentarians from across the political spectrum who joined our campaign. I would like to thank legendary singers, academics, TV personalities and other household names who embraced the opportunity to show their support for the LGBTI+ communities.

I would like to close by inviting everyone to join our celebration of respect for diversity. Let’s all show our support to LGBT people in Greece and around the world by taking part in the upcoming Pride festivities. Let’s all be #VisiblyProud in support of inclusion and respect for human rights. Let’s be #VisiblyProud as we embrace diversity in 2021!

Mark Allen is Canada’s ambassador to Greece.