May 13, 2022
LAUNCH
On Friday 13th of May 2022 we introduced ourselves to the world at the official launch of Queer Collective. We found ourselves among the queer people of the island after a long long time. What a joy, what a relief. We consider the launch of Queer Collective CY a big success, as you, the community, embraced it, had fun and poured all your positive energy into the place. Thank you for being present, speaking your minds and keeping the spark alive. Special thanks to all the volunteers that made the night unforgettable, to the wonderful people of @kafeneio_ison for their excellent hosting and to the AIDS Solidarity Movement/ @cy.checkpoint for always standing by the community with their valuable work. This is only the beginning. The best is yet to come!
June 18, 2022
United by Pride Vol.1: A Historic Step Towards Unity and Equality in Cyprus
On June 18, 2022, Cyprus witnessed something unprecedented: the first-ever intercommunal LGBTQIA+ Pride march, held in the buffer zone of Nicosia. Organised under the name United by Pride, the event brought together people from across the divide in a powerful and symbolic act of visibility, resistance, and solidarity.
Two parallel marches started on either side of the Green Line — one from Eleftheria Square in the South and one from Kuğulu Park in the North — culminating in a shared gathering at the Ledra Palace checkpoint. In the middle of a UN-controlled and militarised zone, the community sewed together two separate Pride flags carried from each side, creating a shared banner of unity that stood in defiance of borders, division, and homophobia.
What made United by Pride particularly historic was its setting: it is believed to be the first-ever Pride event held in a ceasefire territory under active United Nations control. In the heart of a divided capital, in a space designed to separate, the LGBTQIA+ community came together to reclaim visibility and demand equality across the whole island.
The event was co-organised by Queer Collective CY, Queer Cyprus Association, LGBT Pilipinas, African LGBTIQ+ Community Cyprus, and the LGBT+ & Friends UCY Student Club — bringing together queer and trans people from across communities, nationalities, and backgrounds. The gathering featured speeches, performances, and a celebration of queer life, culture, and resistance, sending a clear message: our lives are political, and our joy is a form of protest.
The march received both local and international coverage and was recognised not only as a step forward for LGBTQIA+ rights on the island, but also as a rare and powerful act of cross-communal cooperation in one of Europe’s longest-standing unresolved conflicts.
June 28, 2022
From Stonewall to United by Pride
The Stonewall uprising is widely considered as one of the most important moments that fuelled the gay liberation movement and sparked the modern LGBT+ rights movement.
The Stonewall Inn was one of the spaces that served as a safe haven for people of the LBGT+ community, at a time when New York forbade homosexual relations and crossdressing. At around 1:20 am Of June 28th 1969, the police carried out a surprise raid at the Stonewall Inn, located in the heart of New York City.
The police stormed into the bar and began to harass and arrest patrons who were not complying with ID verifications or were in violation of the laws mentioned above. Patrons gathered outside the bar after 13 individuals were arrested and more people from the neighbourhood joined the crowd.
Among the people being arrested, a woman cried out: “Why don’t you do something?” Resisting police repression and refusing to tolerate discrimination, people started throwing pennies, bottles and cobblestones at the police and chanting “Gay Power” and “We shall overcome”. The agitated crowd’s actions lasted for 6 days and gained massive media attention.
Immediately after Stonewall, the first gay rights organisations were formed and together with many activists, such as trans women of colour Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, helped shift public opinion.
On the 28th of June of 1970, the 1- year anniversary of the Stonewall uprising, the first gay Pride parade was held in New York. It has continued ever since as an annual reminder of what happened that night at the Stonewall Inn and countries around the globe began organising their own Pride parades.
To this day and within the Republic of Cyprus alone, politicians, high-ranked educators clergymen, and people of influence publicly oppose full equality for LGBTQI+ people. Words of hate and discrimination are frequent from authority figures.
LGBTQI+ citizens don’t enjoy the same freedoms and rights most non-LBGTQI+ individuals do. LGBTQI+ youth is in the dark, without role models to look up to or the appropriate sex and health education they need.
Mainstream culture revolves around cis-heteronormative erasing the narratives, participation and visibility of the LGBTQI+ community. To this day, some LGBTQI+ people choose to live in hiding and fear or believe they are better off dead than being their true selves.
Civil partnership is presented as equal to civil marriage (except adoption rights) but no one mentions regulations regarding existing children Of LGBTQ+ couples, issues with widower’s pension, banks refusing loans to same-sex couples under civil partnership, doctors refusing to prescribe hormone therapies to trans people, the government refusing asylum to LGBTQI+ asylum seekers and sending them back to countries that actively seek their harm and conversion therapies are yet to be criminalised.
We are still waiting for legal gender recognition, adoption rights and access to civil marriage. We are still demanding full equality in all laws, safety, participation, visibility, education, job opportunities and access in the commons, in healthcare and in decision-making spaces. We are born into a society that vilifies what is different and foreign. Inside this transphobic, biphobic, homophobic, interphobic society, we learn to bargain with our sexuality, our visibility, and our self-worth.
We refuse to give any more of our space, our time and our wellbeing to societies that thrive at the cost of our lives. We refuse to stand and watch our dignity being raided by systemic hate and discrimination. We choose to unlearn the bad education. We love unapologetically, publicly, persistently. So let’s raise our voices together as the beautiful people of the Stonewall riots did
November 7, 2022
Sex talks: Kink
On November 7, 2022, we gathered to watch a short film “A Bondage Landscape”, the first official short BDSM film from Cyprus. Set against a stunning natural backdrop, the 17-minute film stars Debbie and Pleasure Fields in an intimate performance where rope bondage and candle wax play become tools of vulnerability, trust, and artistry.
The evening began with a brief introduction on better consent and communication, from the kink/BDSM communities. After the screening, we hosted a Q&A and open discussion with performers and creators: @purple_debbie_butterfly, @funky.sadist, and @6pills.
December 14, 2022
Legally Queer Vol.1
Legally Queer” is a dedicated initiative focused on exploring the legal landscape’s impact on Cyprus’ LGBTQI+ community. Our mission is to empower LGBTQI+ individuals by providing accessible insights into the legal issues affecting our daily lives and fundamental rights. Through informative discussions, we aim to foster awareness, address common challenges, and build connections within the community.
Our initiative goes beyond legal matters; it creates a space for LGBTQI+ individuals to connect and share experiences. By coming together, we can build a collective consciousness, highlighting shared struggles and triumphs. Through these interactions, we aspire to cultivate a stronger sense of unity and solidarity within the community. “Legally Queer” ultimately strives to facilitate open conversations, promote awareness, and strengthen the bonds that tie us together as LGBTQI+ individuals in Cyprus.
Queer Collective CY together with Sessions organised its first event dedicated to legal issues affecting the LGBTQIA+ community in Cyprus. Held at the first iteration of Sessions at Saphou Street, the event created space for an open and practical discussion on matters often overlooked or misunderstood — from discrimination claims and workplace harassment, to the ongoing legal vacuum around gender recognition.
Alexandros Efstathiou and Theo Ieronymides were the lawyers on behalf of the collective who created and presented the event. One of the main focuses was the current situation around legal gender recognition in Cyprus and the process on how trans individuals to update their name and gender marker on official documents based on self-determination.
The event also addressed harassment in the workplace and barriers faced when reporting such incidents, especially when tied to gender expression or sexual orientation. Participants and guest speakers highlighted the lack of enforcement in existing anti-discrimination protections and the need for clearer procedures and accountability mechanisms.
The session closed with a Q&A and open discussion, encouraging the community to share experiences and ask questions about their rights, possible legal steps, and ways to collectively push for change.
This was the first in a series of events by Queer Collective CY aiming to make legal knowledge accessible and support the LGBTQIA+ community in navigating everyday legal obstacles. It also marked a crucial move toward politicising queer existence within the legal framework of the island — not just through advocacy, but through grassroots knowledge-sharing.
June 17, 2023
United by Pride Vol.2
September 10, 2023
Antifasistiki poreia
On the September 10th, 2023, Antifasistiki march happened at Eleftheria Square in Nicosia against blatant fascist which showed fascist and racist responses against immigrants and non-locals in general, we sent the message in the entire Cyprus “ Fascism shall not pass!”. We marched together against a society built on solidarity. In continuation of the anti-fascist mobilisations of the last few days, we had issued another resounding response to the racist attacks and violent incidents targeting migrants at Chloraka and Limassol. The demonstration also took a stand against the biased media coverage and the attempts to whitewash acts of racist violence by describing the perpetrators as “hooligans”. We also standed against politicians and government officials who incite the masses and then pretend to be surprised when the situation escalates.
These fascist attacks are fuelled by the racist policies implemented by the state and the EU. The only thing that can stop them is the organising of society itself, the common front of all workers, both local and immigrant.
October 18, 2023
Legally Queer Vol.2
“Legally Queer” is a dedicated initiative focused on exploring the legal landscape’s impact on Cyprus’ LGBTQI+ community. Our mission is to empower LGBTQI+ individuals by providing accessible insights into the legal issues affecting our daily lives and fundamental rights. Through informative discussions, we aim to foster awareness, address common challenges, and build connections within the community.
Our initiative goes beyond legal matters; it creates a space for LGBTQI+ individuals to connect and share experiences. By coming together, we can build a collective consciousness, highlighting shared struggles and triumphs. Through these interactions, we aspire to cultivate a stronger sense of unity and solidarity within the community. “Legally Queer” ultimately strives to facilitate open conversations, promote awareness, and strengthen the bonds that tie us together as LGBTQI+ individuals in Cyprus.
In this iteration again in collaboration and hosted by sessions, this time in its second iteration at the SPEL State Gallery, Alexandros Efstathiou and Theo Ieronymides discussed the current status of the Hate Speech legislation — its implications, lack of enforcement, and the consequences this has on both protection and the prevention and prosecution of crimes motivated by gender expression and sexual orientation.
The Q&A that followed focused on practical steps for informing our community about their rights and promoting better practices when it comes to reporting such incidents. A key point raised was the lack of a professional and adequate response from the Police, including their reluctance — and, in some cases, clear aversion and discriminatory behaviour — towards members of our community who report these incidents.
April 25, 2024
Justice Now ! Stand Against Silence
On April 25th, 2024, a protest took place outside the Police Headquarters on Antistratigou Evangelou Floraki Ave, protesting against homophobic assaults and criminal offenses committed by police officers. We stood together, shouting that we will not take it anymore and refuse to remain silent. We demanded an effective investigation into incidents of violence, accountability for the police officers involved in the assaults, and a thorough review of the system for recording and registering such reports. Additionally, a speech was delivered, emphasizing these demands and calling for the police to act responsibly.
No one stands alone in times of injustice!
June 22, 2024
Στασ + τρασ, under the stars, beach party
On June 22nd 2024, we gathered at Mazoto Beach for ΣΤΡΑΣ + ΤΡΑΣ, a queer beach party celebrating under the stars, we danced late into the night to iconic Greek hits from the 80s, 90s, 00s and beyond.
DJs WanderWonder and Shemona Lyssa kept the beats alive. The event ran smoothly with the help of our incredible volunteers, to creat a welcoming and supportive atmosphere.
September 14, 2024
United by Pride Vol.3
December 22, 2024