Seculars March Towards Citizenship 2012

The Laique Pride is a movement seeking to gather the different shades of the Lebanese secular fabric. The march is a yearly meeting to make their voices heard and to put a face to their demands. The Laique Pride encourages and supports every movement and organization working towards a more egalitarian society. It does not claim to be a substitute for secular actions taking place throughout the year, but rather wishes to inspire new citizen initiatives in Lebanon.

The Lebanese Laique Pride III will take place on Sunday May 6th, 2012. It will be demonstrating its full support to:

1- Enacting a unified Civil Code for the Personal Status Law.
2- Passing the Law for Protection of Women from Family Violence submitted by KAFA to the Lebanese parliament. They denounce the parliamentary committee distortions to the law draft and demand the full adoption of Kafa’s original draft that included criminalizing marital rape.
3- Abolishing article 522 of the penal law, which drops charges against a rapist if he marries his victim.
4- Amending the nationality law for the full right of Lebanese women to grant their nationality to their children and spouses.
5- Passing the Draft Law Prohibiting the Pre-Censorship on Cinema and Theatre launched by Maharat Foundation and Marsad Al-Raqaba.
6- Withdrawing the draft law Lebanese Internet Regulation Act (LIRA) proposed by the Lebanese Ministry of Information.

On May 6th 2012, they will continue the secular march towards citizenship for the third consecutive year. The gathering will take place at 4 PM in front of Sanayeh garden in Hamra and they will head together to Ain El Mraisse. The march will end with a Speaker’s Corner at the corniche, where you are invited to speak for up to one minute each answering the following question: “How would you change Lebanon?”
It will be an open citizen space dedicated to the practice of free speech, fearless listening, non-violence, mutual respect and tolerance.

Special Formula:The only flag raised during the manifestation will be the flag of Lebanon.

Lebanese abroad are invited to organize gatherings on the same day.

Important notice: The Laique Pride is a citizen movement that refuses any political recuperation.