On June 20, 2026, Skopje will host the Pride Parade. The slogan: „Let Everyone Know". The gathering point - the Fountain in the City Park at 6 PM, with the march starting at 7 PM. The route is more ambitious than in previous years - Ilinden Boulevard, Roosevelt Street, Partizanski Odredi Boulevard, VMRO Boulevard, and Dimitrije Čupovski Street, ending at „Žena Borec" park.

The organisers aren't being shy. Earlier parades were discreet, with reduced visibility and police presence framed as the main form of „guaranteed safety". This time, the route runs through central boulevards - that's a political decision, not just a logistical one. „We're here and we refuse to shrink to be accepted" comes through clearly in the organisers' message.

The context isn't on their side. Institutional hostility towards the LGBTIQ+ community in Macedonia grows every year. Right-wing groups and certain church leaders speak openly against it. Police „guard" every parade, which in practice means ritual attacks are expected. That's the reality in which stepping onto the street is still an act of risk for many.

Why June 20? It's a traditional date - close to Pride Day, marked on June 28 worldwide. The number of participants is always another story - over the last few years the count has moved between 200 and 500 people, with a few thousand spectators along the route. For a city of 600,000, that's not a mass demonstration - but that's not the point either. What matters is that it still happens, in a country where laws protecting sexual minorities have been waiting years for meaningful reform.

The question that stays open for readers is - is Skopje a city that evolves with time, or a city that holds on to tendencies of closing in? The parade will answer that for at least one day. The number of participants, the reaction of passers-by, the reaction of the media - all of them will be a barometer. Not that a June march can resolve institutional questions on its own. But without it, the questions would be invisible.