PRAGUE—In honor of Prague's Pride celebration, BelAmi has released a video and webpage that strive to highlight how far the LGBTQ community has come, while at the same time honoring those who've lost their lives to hate crimes. The idea stemmed from anti-gay violence hitting close to home for BelAmi when a gunman killed two young men at a gay bar close to one of BelAmi's offices in Bratislava last year.
In honor of the lives lost, the video features BelAmi exclusive models wearing T-shirts, each with a name of an LGBTQ person who lost their life due to hate crimes. Those names include Edwin Chiloba, Yelena Grigoryeva, David Kato, Tyrone Unsworth, Kenneth Zeller, Brian Williamson, Andile Ntuthela, Juraj Vankulič, Matúš Horváth, Matthew Shepard, Daniel Aston, Farid Mohammadi, and the 49 victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida.
BelAmi's publicist said of the initiative, "Looking at the increasing attacks on LGBTQI individuals around the world makes it hard not to want to comment on what's going on and remind people that while we have come a long way, we are all still in a fight for our freedom and the right to be who we are, and love who we want, on a daily basis. So, we thought, 'Why not get a bunch of our models together and do something to highlight the lives we lost as we celebrate pride this year?'"
To watch the video, visit belamionline.com/Pride.
