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🇮🇸 Iceland /Crime & Justice

“Hatred Must Not Win”: Pride Returns to Södertälje Under Police Guard

From Morgunblaðið · () Icelandic

Translated from Icelandic and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

In-depth Named sources Outcome reported
  • Södertälje held its first Pride march since 2018 under heavy police protection amid protests by opponents of LGBTQ+ people.
  • Pride events had paused for years, partly because many people feared joining them because of anti-LGBTQ+ attitudes in the town, according to Swedish public broadcaster SVT.
  • QueerKraft chair Elli Asker said Pride should create a safe space where people can live freely and show that equal rights deserve protection.

After an eight-year pause, Pride returned to the Swedish town of Södertälje under heavy police protection. Opponents of LGBTQ+ people and their movement held protests at Saltsjö Square as the march took place.

The event was the first Pride march in Södertälje since 2018, when Sweden’s RFSL organization held one there. In the years that followed, LGBTQ+ celebrations stopped in the town. Swedish public broadcaster SVT reported that some people had been afraid to participate because of negative attitudes toward LGBTQ+ people in Södertälje.

QueerKraft organized this year’s march despite the opposition, and the event went ahead successfully. Its chair, Elli Asker, led the effort to bring Pride back after the long interruption. Asker is a refugee from Azerbaijan who fled persecution because of her sexual orientation or gender identity.

My motivation is simple. I want people to be able to live their lives as they are and be free. No one should have to hide who they are or whom they love, or adapt their life to other people’s prejudice. That is why the LGBTQIA+ movement needs to exist. For me, Pride is fundamentally a question of democracy and human rights.

· Elli AskerThe QueerKraft chair explained why she helped organize Södertälje’s first Pride march in eight years.

“My motivation is simple,” Asker told mbl.is. “I want people to be able to live their lives as they are and be free. No one should have to hide who they are or whom they love, or adapt their life to other people’s prejudice. That is why the LGBTQIA+ movement needs to exist. For me, Pride is fundamentally a question of democracy and human rights.”

Asker said the movement was about being present, visible, able to love and able to live on equal terms. She said bringing Pride back to Södertälje had great personal significance because she wanted to help create a place where people could feel free, safe and proud. In light of the protests, she added that Pride must not become something that frightens people. “It should be something we build together for the future. Hatred must not win, it must not stop us,” she said.

It should be something we build together for the future. Hatred must not win, it must not stop us.

· Elli AskerAsker described how Pride should respond to protests and hostility in Södertälje.
About this summary

Originally published by Morgunblaðið in Icelandic. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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