The Belgian Pride has finally broken silence. Less than three months in advance, the organisation has announced Saturday 21 May as a date. “The Belgian Pride Parade 2022 will be held in Brussels on the 21st of May. More info soon.”

Indeed, it is widely expected coronavirus countermeasures will be all but gone by May. On 4 March, the Consultative Committee of Governments will meet and is expected to announce the transition from Code Orange to Code Yellow in Belgium.

Code Yellow

Code Yellow measures apply when there are fewer than 65 daily COVID-19 hospitalisations and fewer than 300 patients in ICUs.

In Code Yellow, most countermeasures disappear.

• For events: no restrictions on audience, no Covid Safe Ticket (CST), face mask not mandatory but FFP2 masks are highly recommended for people at risk. 
• For the catering business (horeca): no mandatory closing time, no CST, face mask not mandatory but FFP2 masks are highly recommended for people at risk.
• Free time: face mask not mandatory but FFP2 masks are highly recommended for people at risk during indoor activities, no restrictions on overnight stays for youth groups (such as scouting), no restrictions on capacity.

What it means for other coronavirus countermeasures such as masks in public transport? That’s not clear. 

Belgian Pride by The Belgian Pride

The Belgian Pride is organised by The Belgian Pride (with article). “Belgian Pride’s principal social goal is the annual organisation of the Pride Parade, a national march in the Brussels Capital Region. Three umbrella-organisations form the board that decides the annual theme and the political demands. They represent a large number of local and regional associations.”

 These three organisations are:

• Arc-en-ciel Wallonie or Rainbow Wallonia, confederating the maisons arc-en-ciel or rainbow houses in Wallonia.
• Çavaria, the umbrella organisation of rainbow houses and other affiliated LGBTQI civil society in Flanders.
• RainbowHouse Brussels.

A fourth player is mentioned: Brussels Rainbow Village, grouping LGBTQI businesses in the Brussels-Capital Region.

The Belgian Pride is having a bad case of indecisiveness. As last year it’s barely communicating. Does the board knows what it wants? 

There also seems to be no coordinator at this point. 

Antwerp Pride

In contrast, Antwerp Pride has been more upfront, although it did wait longer than in 2021 to announce plans for 2022. But at least there’s continuity. Bart Abeel has chaired the organisation for fifteen years now. And Davide Secci took over seamlessly from Peter Van Bocxlaer as coordinator in November 2021.