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PRIDE 2013

PRIDE

Sweden gets proud ‘Homo Bureau’ store

The Swedish newsagent giant Pressbyrån is rolling out the pink carpet for its LGBT consumer base in honour of the upcoming Pride Week in Stockholm by renaming one of its stores Homobyrån.

Sweden gets proud 'Homo Bureau' store

The chain is also renaming other outlets – Bögbyrån, Flatbyrån, Transbyrån and Queerbyrån (Gay, Lesbian, Trans and Queer Bureau) – in different parts of the capital. Gay pride kicks off on Tuesday and runs until Saturday with a whole host of events planned.

“We have a responsibility to pay attention and take a stand for LGBT people who have had it tough in the past and still face oppression,” Helena Ekdahl, Human Resources manager at Pressbyrån, told Aftonbladet.

A total of five Pressbyrån branches in Stockholm will be renamed for the week of gay pride, which has become a Swedish institution since 1998. Stockholm now has the largest gay pride festival in Scandinavia.

Ekdahl said she was looking to see how the public reacts to the name changes. Customers will also get shopping bags with the new name on them as a souvenir.

“I hope and believe that it will be positive and that our customers find it fun. It’s exciting to see how they will respond,” she said.

“We know that there is a small group that might find it offensive in some way. We have many different types of customers and in general it will come across very positive.”

Pressbyrån’s long-term rival 7-Eleven are also getting in on the act by issuing a new rainbow coloured cardboard coffee cup.

The TT news agency reported that Stockholm’s tourist figures are expected to increase as a result of gay pride. Many restaurants and carpets are creating special menus and packages to entice the LGBT audience.

Organizers of this year’s gay pride said there has been a large increase in the number of visitors coming from abroad.

If you want to find the stores in Stockholm they are located at:

Bögbyrån, Vasagatan 12, Flatbyrån, Götgatan 94, Queerbyrån, Kungsgatan 19-21, Transbyrån, Sergelgatan 1 och Homobyrån, Sveavägen 67 A.

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STOCKHOLM

Stockholm Pride is a little different this year: here’s what you need to know 

This week marks the beginning of Pride festivities in the Swedish capital. The tickets sold out immediately, for the partly in-person, partly digital events. 

Pride parade 2019
There won't be a Pride parade like the one in 2019 on the streets of Stockholm this year. Photo: Stina Stjernkvist/TT

You might have noticed rainbow flags popping up on major buildings in Stockholm, and on buses and trams. Sweden has more Pride festivals per capita than any other country and is the largest Pride celebration in the Nordic region, but the Stockholm event is by far the biggest.  

The Pride Parade, which usually attracts around 50,000 participants in a normal year, will be broadcast digitally from Södra Teatern on August 7th on Stockholm Pride’s website and social media. The two-hour broadcast will be led by tenor and debater Rickard Söderberg.

The two major venues of the festival are Pride House, located this year at the Clarion Hotel Stockholm at Skanstull in Södermalm, and Pride Stage, which is at Södra Teatern near Slussen.

“We are super happy with the layout and think it feels good for us as an organisation to slowly return to normal. There are so many who have longed for it,” chairperson of Stockholm Pride, Vix Herjeryd, told the Dagens Nyheter newspaper.

Tickets are required for all indoor events at Södra Teatern to limit the number of people indoors according to pandemic restrictions. But the entire stage programme will also be streamed on a big screen open air on Mosebacketerassen, which doesn’t require a ticket.  

You can read more about this year’s Pride programme on the Stockholm Pride website (in Swedish). 

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