VietNamNet Bridge - Staff members of the Embassies of Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden in Hanoi biked on September 24 to show their support for the Hanoi Pride 2017, an event of the community of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people (LGBTI).

The bike parade on September 24.

Ambassadors, diplomats, local staff, family members - in total 45 people from these embassies – joined the bike rally of the Hanoi Pride 2017 on September 24.

The Nordic countries are strong supporters of international human rights, including the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people (LGBTI).

“This event is an opportunity to team up and to celebrate diversity, tolerance and equal rights for all", the Nordic embassies stated in a press release.

"Everyone should be able to love who they want. Be who they are. We all have the same universal rights and we all want to feel the same respect for our integrity and choices,” the press release said.

This is the second year in a row that the Nordic countries took part in the bike parade of the Hanoi Pride to express values of Equality, Diversity and Tolerance.

Hanoi Pride 2017, the country’s most anticipated event for the LGBTI community, took place from September 18 to 24 with a series of exhibitions, discussions, film screenings, a bike rally and walking march.

H​anoi Pride advocates for an end of prejudice, discrimination, shame, and invisibility faced by LGBTI people.

The staff members of the Nordic embassies who took part in the bike rally of the Hanoi Pride 2017 on September 24.

The capstone events of the sixth annual Hanoi Pride - the bike rally, parade, and Pride Festival - brought together almost 1,000 LGBTI community members and allies. 

Since the first celebration in 2012, Hanoi Pride (formerly Viet Pride Hanoi ) has become an annual event calling for the elimination of prejudice and discrimination against the LGBTQ community in Vietnam, a country in which same-sex intimacy remains taboo.

Over the last few years, Pride has become a movement spanning from informal LGBT collectives on and offline to formal organisations and transnational, inter-governmental entities. The movement has brought about significant changes for the LGBTQ community in Vietnam on several fronts: same-sex marriage is now legal, public opinion is shifting and tolerance is on the rise within workplaces, classrooms and families.

PV