
About Malta Pride
The first recorded LGBTIQ+ Pride Demonstration in Malta was held in 2004 and organised by the Malta LGBTIQ Rights Movement (MGRM). Since 2016, ARC was recognised by the different LGBTIQ Voluntary Organisations in Malta as the organisers of Malta Pride Week and the Pride March.
At the first ever Pride March in Malta, in 2004, not more than 50 demonstrators marched along the Capital City of Valletta, most of whom were straight allies and some politicians who supported equality. The theme used was “Gay Rights? Human Rights!”
Since then Pride kept its annual appointment hoping to drive the message of the LGBTIQ+ Community across the whole island, yet participation numbers during the demonstration barely exceeded 500 people up until 2015.
In 2016, ARC formed a collaboration with MGRM to jointly organise Malta Pride which saw a record participation of 1,000 people, mostly from the LGBTIQ+ community.
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From 2016 until present, participation Numbers and partnership involvement kept breaking records year after year. In 2019, 8,000 people, approximately 2% of the population of Malta, participated at the Pride March & Concert, with over 22 other events also held during Pride Week with a budget of just €40,000.
Malta Pride has become a much sought-after annual event in the Maltese national calendar, supported by central & local Government, private entities and a number of civil society organisations. Malta Pride keeps the LGBTIQ+ community at its core and ensures it doesn’t become a vehicle for pink washing by corporate or political propaganda.
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We celebrated the country’s 6th consecutive year ranking at the top of ILGAs equality index and also a dedicated Ministry that works hard in maintaining it.
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