The second issue of Chasing the Rainbow is out!
Millions of queer people take to the streets each year during one of the many Prides held around the world. These marches are colorful parades honoring hard-won LGBTQ+ rights, the diversity of a community and the uniqueness of individuals, the joy of visibility and the importance of belonging — without ever forgetting the LGBTQ+ victims of hatred and exclusion.
Pride is love. Pride is freedom. Pride is also a celebration, always. After the inaugural issue about the importance of protest, we explore the many meanings of celebration.
Read the foreword below and discover the table of contents.
Chasing the Rainbow is a magazine about Pride that explores the LGBTQ+ community across Europe.
Foreword
We live in turbulent times. But in a year when authoritarian leaders are trying to roll back LGBTQ+ rights and suppress protest, the queer community is stronger and louder than ever. We know why we take to the streets en masse.
Still, it wouldn’t be right to reduce the many Prides that take place each year to protest alone. Pride is also a place of joy. “The political discussions give it meaning, the joy gives it life,” Micham Budryk of Stockholm Pride told me.
That’s precisely what makes every Pride such a remarkable event. We dance and shout our slogans, we celebrate and fight for liberation, always carrying the same message: we exist, and we want to be seen.
My own attempt to keep chasing the rainbow across Europe continued in the summer of 2025. I met activists, dancers, volunteers, and partygoers in ten countries, from Hungary to Denmark and Portugal. And whatever happens, they won’t take our celebration away from us.
Len Buggenhout
Founder & editor
Table of contents
- A story on the creation and legacy of Pride flags
- A personal reflection on the festive aspects of the historic Pride in Budapest, by Hungarian journalist Roland Papp
- An update on the Tour of European Prides, a personal project from founder Len Buggenhout
- An article on the importance of EuroPride, nowadays
- A visual story on why celebration is just another form of protest
- A report on the liberating power of dancing in dance collective Queer Moves, written by Lisa Verhelst
- An analysis on why the Nordics get Pride right
