An important signal for tolerance

The Stockholm Pride Festival begins this week. Hosting this year's EuroPride festival, the biggest gay festival in Europe, is of particular significance for Stockholm, the Swedish daily Expressen writes. "Swedish politicians may say nice things at the festival but in Poland, for example, the tone is very different. A few years ago the prime minister at the time expressed the view at the Warsaw Festival that all 'gays should be gassed'. Many of the new EU countries suffer from an extreme and militant form of homophobia, frequently with the blessing of people in the highest political office. Fortunately the EU has acted to counter this and according to many activists there has been gradual improvement in the situation." The paper comments that as far as the rights of homosexuals are concerned, Sweden is far ahead of other countries. "But the battle for tolerance is not just about laws. There are also unwritten laws, social conventions, which tell us how to behave as men and women, heterosexuals and homosexuals. For ten years now the Stockholm Pride Festival ... has been an important rebel against these conventions."

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