Our choir took part in Brussels Pride on 17 May 2025. Singing on stage and in the parade, we echoed this year’s theme of unity and protecting our rights.
Every year, Sing Out Brussels! takes part in Brussels Pride. It’s a meaningful event for our Brussels LGBTQI+ association. We owe it to ourselves to seize this opportunity to take over the public space for a day to demand our rights and advocate for a more inclusive society. What’s more, our choir is a member of RainbowHouse Brussels, which is organising the event alongside visit.brussels, taking charge of its activist aspect.
Our association is also aware that the event is the subject of debate. Our choir is rich in diversity, and this diversity is also reflected in opinions about Pride. Some choir members criticise it for being too carnival-like, while others feel it has become too commercial. For many of our members, there is no place for the police, the army, political parties or businesses. For others, this presence is important to show that the whole of Belgian society is standing up for LGBTQI+ rights. In the end, each member of Sing Out takes part, or not, in their own way.
For the3rd year running, we were invited to open the festivities on the main stage set up on Place de l’Albertine. As the crowd gathered for the afternoon parade, we performed a selection from our Queeros show, in French, Dutch and English. It’s always an emotional moment for our members, who get the chance to connect directly with the LGBTQI+ community, in front of an always kind audience.
We then took our place in the parade and proudly marched through the streets of Brussels. This year, we invested in an amplification system that enabled us to broadcast our recorded songs, which we sang and danced to all afternoon. Our group was at the front of the procession, among other associations. The party then continued around the various stages set up in Brussels city centre, in bars and other social venues.
It should also be noted that on the fringes of Pride, during Pride Week, we organised a musical workshop and created a pop-up choir for the evening. Around forty people, some of whom had never tried choral singing before, were able to take part in a free activity led by our choir director Emily Allison in a queer safe space and discover the physical and mental well-being that this type of activity brings. On the programme: vocal warm-up, body, voice and breathing work, vocalises and musical improvisations. The evening ended with the learning of a song for six voices. It was an interesting first experience for our group, as it enabled us to reach a different audience while sharing the values we hold dear.
