Why we need Pride

A 15-year-old boy in a village outside of Patra on the western coast of the Peloponnese was attacked by his father and uncle and sent to the hospital because he admitted to them that he was gay.

What a courageous young man! To come out to your Greek father in rural Greece, and many other places for that matter, requires an extraordinary dose of courage.

I am not sure that even at my age I could come out to my father if I was gay.

And the reaction of the father and uncle! These are the same people that, I believe, would have stood by their young son/nephew had he come to them and said, "Dad, I killed someone" - then the family would have said that blood is thicker than water etc.

Domestic violence is not a new phenomenon nor is it limited to Greece. What we have here is the added layer of violence against a vulnerable member of the LGBTQ community.