HOSI Wien & Stonewall GmbH
In Austria the first Pride Parade (Regenbogenparade; literally: Rainbow Parade) took place in 1996. Since then, it has attracted more and more visitors every year, now over 200,000. Since 2007 Pride takes places as Vienna Pride – an umbrella over all the events that are held around the parade. And since 2010, a Pride Village lasting several days has also been organised, usually on Rathausplatz.
For the purpose of hosting EuroPride 2019, the Homosexual Initiative (HOSI) Vienna founded the non-profit company Stonewall GmbH in order to be able to organise a variety of larger events around the parade with more team members and to increase the number of co-operations.
THE STONEWALL MISSION STATEMENT
The development and implementation of LGBTIQ events should primarily benefit the community in Vienna, but of course it should also reach a wider public beyond the city limits and present Vienna internationally as a model city in terms of diversity, acceptance and equality. Above all, the exchange with communities throughout Europe is important to us, which we want to cultivate and strengthen.
Stonewall GmbH is a non-profit company founded by HOSI Wien to organise Vienna Pride including Pride Village and Rainbow Parade – and of course the 2019 EuroPride – as well as various events throughout the year.
Our primary goal is to promote the visibility of lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgender people, intersexual and queer people. We want to achieve this by:
- Giving LGBTIQ people and groups the opportunity to participate in the Pride events organised by Stonewall GmbH to make a mark of pride and send a much wider message of diversity and acceptance to the world;
- Embedding the Rainbow Parade in a broad programme of cultural and social activities that will not only benefit the Viennese people but also attract visitors from all over the world;
- Providing the community with resources and opportunities to develop artistically and politically;
- Involving people and groups from outside the LGBTIQ community who share our ideas.