The Annual Stockholm Gay Parade held for 14th time here in the capital today (August 4th, 2012). The festival which was started last Tuesday (July 31st 2012) and is organized by The Stockholm Pride organization fetched hundreds of thousands of local LGBT groups, merry makers, tourists, and a few LGBT activists at home and from abroad. This year's festival was started on on July 31st 2012 and hosted various seminars, workshops, photo exhibitions, concerts during the whole week and raised issues related to LGBT asylum seekers, sexuality and gender, HIV/Aids, violence against women etc. This years theme was tillsamans which means together, didn't go without controversy; quiet a good number local LGBT members distanced themselves from this year's Parade and held their own Parade outside the official Gay Parade House to show their protest against the inclusion of authorities which deport LGBT asylum seekers to gay hostile countries where their lives would be in great dangers due to their sexuality/gender preferences. These local activist didn't participate in today's Parade due to the organizers' indifference to English Defense League's today's rally which was held later in the afternoon. The organizers, however, rejected these allegations adding that this year's motto is 'togetherness' so everybody's value is welcomed. Even though, some critics accused this annual event's original meaning of fighting against discrimination of LGBT group was hijacked by profit makers and fetish groups; there were a few activists from Iran and Russia which made a statement about the ongoing harassment and killings of LGBT groups in those respective countries.

Thanks GlobalReporting.net for borrowing the camera (as mine was destroyed beyond reconginition by a local angry bus-driver); otherwise I wouldn't be able to capture these two huge events in real time.