Dear supporters and guests of Rainbow Friendship 2009,

First of all, it was our honor to have you here with all of us - organizers, volunteers, priders. Each participation of yours was extremely important and a landmark one for us, but also for the
community and for many of the open-minded citizenry in Bulgaria on June 27th. The fact of your presence was empowering for all of us and our endurance, reminding us all of the time that we are not just a
bunch of organizers mobilizing civil minds but more or less taking steps - both on and off the streets - in changing the present day by day, little by little.

We are proud to announce that the Rainbow Friendship pride rally on 27th of June 2009 was a success! About 400 participants marched peacefully and with the rhythm of music on the streets of Sofia last
Saturday, demonstrating that equality, acceptance and tolerance does not differentiate gender, age, sexuality or nationality. This pride rally was indeed expression of joy, supportiveness, international
solidarity and inclusiveness.

In the aftermath of the last year’s pride march, we all needed hope and inspiration. Each of us has a psychological need to feel wanted and recognized and it is your support to the Rainbow Friendship, which
made it an event to remember for the LGBT community in Bulgaria and abroad, emphasizing that philosophy.

We want to express our sincere and honest gratefulness for helping us reach this outstanding achievement. The support and empowerment, demonstrated by you, will ensure that those who live in Bulgaria in fear and discrimination, because of their sexual orientation or gender identity, are not alone and unsupported anymore. You have helped to make the promise of a quality life and equality a reality for
thousands of gays, lesbians, bisexual and transgender people throughout our region! And your support contributed to our stronger commitment to build a stable foundation for equality and inclusiveness.

The Bulgarian LGBT community has never received support of such high level, so empowering and driving for commitment to human rights! We are no longer invisible marginalized group in Bulgaria, but respected
and empowered citizens of the European family, who are also supported by friends coming from Greece, Macedonia, Russia, United Kingdom, Romania, France and USA.

Once again, thank you for helping to make the Rainbow Friendship such a success, and thank you for giving generously your strong and open message of acceptance and respect for all! Your outspoken message of
support was heard by all LGBT communities in Europe and it is exactly your high level sincere support that makes difference in countries, where the LGBT people still live in hostile and fearful environment
every day.

Throughout the following month, the organizing team of Rainbow Friendship will be updating you on the impact of your support and the meaningful difference it is making throughout our community.

The best part of this great experience for us is seeing other people getting passionate about the pride march and LGBT equality the way that we did. It has been a truly incredible experience.

We would like to extend out gratefulness for your continuous and consistent support to the LGBT community over the years! We are sincerely thankful for your efforts and help and, very important, for
bringing others alongside to support the human rights of the LGBT community in Bulgaria.

We are proud and grateful of your input all through the day, for walking along with us, for leaving your daily schedules for a pride that was a really central event for us, the LGBT activists in Bulgaria. We are now sure that our voices will be heard more and more and in a different way now that the pride is history - and what
history at that! A colorful and spirited event, made by all of you!

So thank you again.

Aksinia Gencheva and Stanimir Panayotov
On behalf of the organizing team of Rainbow Friendship 2009