The fifth Split Pride parade was held on June 6, 2015, with around 200 members of the LGBT community walking through Split, Croatia. No incidents or violence happened during the manifestation. The Split Pride parade has been held since 2010 and in previous years saw more than 500 participants joined in the Split Pride marches, but in 2011 an anti-gay mob attacked the participants, leaving some participants injured.
Since the introduction of Life Partnership Act in 2014 in Croatia, same-sex couples have had equal rights in almost everything but marriage and adoption, quite a significant progress for the conservative mostly Catholic country.
The fact that the number of participants was lower then last year may seem negative to some, but organizers claim it is a good sign. Many foreigners, including the Ambassador of Sweden to Croatia, Lars Schmidt, and the deputy of the ambassador of England, Nicole Davison came to support the parade, saying that it is their responsibility to support those who love each other.
Citing Split Pride Parade's motto. “Come out in a safe Split”, Marko Mlinar from the LGBT rights NGO Respect stated:
Ne želimo nasilje ni na ulicama ni na stadionima. Imamo česte pritužbe pripadnika LGBT zajednice na napade koje oni međutim ne prijavljuju zbog straha od vlastite obitelji i bliže okoline.
We don't want violence in the streets or the stadiums. We get frequent complaints from members of the LGBT community of attacks that they however don't report due to fear from their own families and closer communities.
Croatian LGBT website CroL tweeted:
Jurica Pavičić o Split Prideu: ‘Ovo je dosadno, ali to je dobro’ http://t.co/ZZ0hapnwwa #splitpride pic.twitter.com/FPPoUiF1VT
— CroL (@CroL_Hr) June 6, 2015
Jurica Pavičić on Split Pride: ‘This is boring, but that's a good thing’ http://t.co/ZZ0hapnwwa #splitpride pic.twitter.com/FPPoUiF1VT
— CroL (@CroL_Hr) June 6, 2015
The organizers were satisfied with this year's parade, even though they expected more people to join the procession, and said they were expecting many more participants at the after party that began at 8:30 p.m. that same evening.
