2023 pride speech
this speech was given by me on july 1st of 2023,
during the second grassroots vilnius pride.
I don’t want to speak for others, so I will speak for myself.
Why do I show off*?
In 2020, I opened my speech with similar phrases. Not much has changed since then, so I must again return to these insufferable questions.
This year, we invited you to the march with the slogan WE'RE STILL MARCHING, because there's plenty to march for.
In Lithuania, the promised right to a civil partnership has yet to be ensured, not to say anything about marriage equality or right to adoption.
Trans people must still face degrading barriers when trying to access legal and medical transition.
The discrimination we experience is not taken seriously by institutions. When we publicly speak about our experiences, we risk not only discrimination, but also censorship.
Therefore, to everyone who still isn't getting it and continue to ask, why show off like this, I answer you with a question of my own – why not?
Because someone doesn't like it? Because it's not pretty to them? Because it makes them mad?
How dare you even imagine that your comfort is more important than our lives?
"Tolerance" with a condition to hide is worth nothing. I stomp it with my feet the same way I had to stomp the streets of our city today.
I show off, because until everyone is free, none of us really are.
I am still marching, because I must fight for my life, and in this fight my weapons are my body and my voice.
Do you know what I heard today during the march? Not the sound of drums, nor the noise of music, nor the rumbling of the crowd.
Today, I heard the footsteps of those who fought for the rights of the LGBTQ community on the streets all around the world. I heard the footsteps of those, who never got to step out on the streets as themselves. I heard the footsteps of those, who have left, who are no longer with us, who have been taken away from us.
What a joy it would have been today to march and laugh with them together.
And so, I cannot allow myself to forget them. Their work is the foundation of everything I can do today.
For this, I'm still marching and showing off.
Thank you.
* In this text, showing off could also be literally translated as demonstrating myself. Locally, the phrase why are they demonstrating themselves? is used similarly to the anglo phrase why are they shoving this down our throats? RE: homophobes talking about queer people.