LGBT Votes Count!

Second pride march is held in tirana with members of the LGBTI community and supporters

Tirana, 11 June 2015 – LGBTI community in Albania and their supporters marched today on the second Tirana Pride in downtown Tirana, organized by PINK Embassy, Human Rights House and OMSA Albania. The march is one of the most important awareness events for LGBTI rights in Tirana. The march was preceded by the Diversity Fair were more than 20 human rights organizations exposed informative and educational materials for participants.

US Ambassador to Tirana Mr. Donald Lu, Ambassador of the Netherlands Mrs. Dewi de Weers, EU Ambassador to Albania Mrs. Romana Vlahutin, Swedish Ambasador Mr. Patrik Svensson, People’s Advocate Mr. Igli Totozani, Commissioner for Protection from Discrimination Mrs. Irma Baraku, representatives of several public institutions, international community, civil society organizations etc joined the march to support the protection and further advance of LGBTI rights. Al together marched with the LGBTI flag in downtown Tirana to show that LGBTI rights are human rights and their protection requires the support of all actors.

The message of Tirana Pride 2015 for Albanian politics and LGBTI voters is LGBT votes count, by asking LGBTI people to know the opinions and views of candidates in relation to the LGBTI topic. Every voter, has the possibility to choose the party and candidates who support equality and the dignity of every LGBTI person”.

International studies and statistics show that around 5% of the population are lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT). Regardless of the fact that many LGBT people in Albania are still invisible to society and institutions they are an integral part of society and have the right through their vote to make possible that institutions are run by people who protect and respect their rights and the fight for equality and dignity.

Since 2015, 6 main municipalities in the country Tirana, Durres, Elbasan, Korcha, Vlora and Shkodra have joined the PINK Embassy initiative “Improving the lives of LGBTI people at the local level”. Even though this is a good start, it means that 55 Municipalities have no practice, program or plan to support the LGBT community or their rights.

Even though Albania has made continuous progress in improving the legal framework and anti-discrimination policies, including here the Albanian Parliament resolution of May 7th 2015 for the protection of the rights of LGBT people, still a lot remains in the legal protection of LGBTI people; fight against hate speech, particularly from public people; legal gender recognition; civil union law, fight against homophobic and transphobic bullying in schools and social media attacks etc.