Turin chosen to host EuroPride 2027

The city of Turin in Italy has been chosen to host EuroPride 2027, winning over other candidates such as Gloucestershire in the UK, Vilnius in Lithuania, and Torremolinos in Spain, according to ‘Yahoo! News’.

According to EuroPride organisers, Turin was selected after securing more than half of the votes, with Gloucestershire as the runner-up.

Coordinamento Torino Pride’s bid underscored recent setbacks for the LGBTQ+ community in Italy, including laws that restrict surrogacy and limit the recognition of same-sex parents’ rights.

Alessandro Battaglia from Coordinamento Torino Pride stated, “The international gaze of activists across Europe and the media power of EuroPride are often the necessary leverage to secure attention and progress on rights at a local level.”

In October 2024, the Italian parliament passed a law making it illegal to pursue surrogacy abroad, with penalties of up to two years in prison and fines reaching €1 million (approximately £835,000). Additionally, in March 2023, the government instructed Milan’s city council to stop registering the children of same-sex parents, a move criticised by LGBTQ+ advocates for undermining family rights.

Fashion icon Donatella Versace criticised these actions during the CNMI Sustainable Fashion Awards in September 2023, saying, “Our government is trying to take away people’s rights to live as they wish, they are restricting our freedoms… The freedom to build a family and live as one wishes, the freedom to love whom one wishes.”

Despite these challenges, Italy has seen progress in LGBTQ+ rights, such as the legalisation of same-sex civil unions in 2016, which granted many rights similar to those of heterosexual marriages, although joint adoption rights remain limited.

EuroPride, which started in London in 1992, is hosted annually by different European cities to advocate for LGBTQ+ rights. It is scheduled to be held in Lisbon, Portugal, in 2025, and Amsterdam, Netherlands, as part of WorldPride in 2026.