SD Senior Official to Join Pride Parade: “Want to Show My Support”

The chair of the municipal executive board in Trelleborg, Mathias Andersson (SD), announced earlier this week that he will participate in this year’s Pride parade in the city. This, in order to show his support for the LGBTQ movement. At the same time, ahead of the left-liberal event, he is trying to clarify his stance by stressing that he has never spoken negatively about Pride.

It was during the municipal council meeting that the SD leader announced his plans for the city’s Pride event in June. The program includes both a parade and a “rainbow mass.”

– I want to show my support for people who are part of the LGBTQ movement, said Mathias Andersson to the other politicians.

The motivation for joining the Pride parade, according to the SD leader, is to show support for individual members of the LGBTQ community in the municipality.

The decision to participate in the Pride parade comes at a time when the party is simultaneously opposing the flying of the Pride flag on the municipality’s flagpoles because it is politically charged, something that has drawn criticism from other parties. This is reported by Trelleborgs Allehanda.

According to Andersson, the municipality’s flagpoles should primarily be used for official flags, such as the municipality’s own flag, the Swedish flag, and also the EU flag.

During the council debate, Andersson emphasized that his criticism regarding the flag should not be interpreted as distancing himself from Pride or LGBTQ individuals.

“Never spoken negatively”

He instead pointed out that he has expressed no criticism of Pride or the event itself, and thereby tried to clarify his position in relation to the political debate.

– I have never spoken negatively about the event itself, he said.

One of those who reacted to the SD leader’s statement was Mats Sjölin (V), who questioned the logic in supporting the event while at the same time opposing the flag flying during the actual festival period.