Czech Republic

In the Czech Republic, at least one event in commemoration of the International Day against Homophobia and Transphobia can be reported on. The event highlighted the achievements and efforts that have been put forward in the last year with an award ceremony.

Like the years before, the bePROUD Awards took place the night before May 17 in commemoration of the IDAHOT. At the ceremony, which took place at the Mecca Club in Prague, awards for the ‘Contribution to More Equal Life of LGBT people’ in Czech society were presented.
The aim of the event was to draw attention to the importance of diversity, and to promote the emancipation and recognition of LGBT people in Czech society. The event was inspired by gala evenings, which have been organized by organizations such as GLAAD (in the US) and Stonewall (in the UK), for many years. During the ceremony, PROUD and the Colour Planet Portal presented awards to projects and personalities that have contributed to LGBT equality.

According to radio.cz, amongst the award-winners was “a group of two dozen MPs from across the political spectrum [who] received the 2013 bePROUD prize for supporting minority rights”. They were pushing for adoption rights for lesbian and gay people to adopt their partners’ children.

Since 2014, the ceremony is organized only by PROUD. Since 2012, bePROUD Awards follow the Colour Planet Awards founded by Janis Sidovský in 2008. The past recipients of the awards include veteran activists, such as Jiří Hromada, Ivo Procházka or Marcela Šulcová, the long-time director of the Mezipatra Film Festival, Aleš Rumpel, and ArtForLife and Dům světla (The House of Light) projects. PROUD also presents an award for the achievement of the year that made the LGBT issues more visible or helped the community. Wide nomination takes place online to enable regional or less publicly known, yet good and beneficial activities to take part. PROUD Executive Board then shortlists five nominations, whose representatives are invited the awards ceremony. The winner is chosen from the five shortlisted nominees. The awards are presented in four categories.