Carrying a rainbow flag, people march during the 9th annual Gay and Lesbian Pride Parade in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Sunday, May 29, 2005. (AP Photo/Victor R. Caivano)
Posted on 05/31/2005 10:48:43 AM PDT by NYer
SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) - Almost 2 million gay men, lesbians, transvestites and their supporters - many in lavish Carnival costumes and waving rainbow-colored flags - paraded in Brazil's biggest city on Sunday to celebrate gay pride and call for the legalization of civil unions between homosexuals.
More than 20 sound trucks blasting music, and carrying go-go boys and drag queens, rolled down the skyscraper-lined Avenida Paulista for the Ninth Annual Sao Paulo Gay Parade - a parade that organizers said was one of the world's largest gay pride events ever.
Police and organizers said almost 2 million people, including 700,000 tourist from other cities and countries, attended. Last year, police said that about 1.5 million people participated.
In comparison, San Francisco's gay pride parade typically attracts tens of thousands of people and last year's world gay pride day celebrations in Berlin attracted between 200,000 and 500,000 participants.
``With these many people showing up, the parade is major step to strike people's prejudice against gays everywhere,'' said Pedro Almeida, a spokesman with the Brazilian Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Trans-gender Pride Parade Association.
``What a great way to increase visibility for gays across the country,'' said 22-year-old Joao Paulo da Silva, who was parading with a large feathered ornament around his neck.
The parade's main theme was the legalization of civil unions in the South American country of 182 million. Civil unions between same-sex couples are permitted only in Brazil's southernmost state of Rio Grande do Sul.
Sao Paulo Mayor Jose Serra and former mayor Marta Suplicy - an avid supporter of gay rights - spoke to the crowd in between live concerts with some of Brazil's most popular singers.
The parade was part of several other gay pride events that will take place throughout Brazil in June.
Brazil is the largest Roman Catholic nation in the world, and the Catholic Church has steadfastly opposed allowing gays to marry.
I used to like rainbows. I didn't leave my rainbow, my rainbow left me.
You could accomplish that by removing the stall doors from public restrooms.
Utterly vile.
Catholic Ping - Please freepmail me if you want on/off this list
Wow, looks like they are really packed in there.
Unnngh.
Oy. Where's a good Anna Kournikova thread when a fella needs one?
Yeah, that's how you get straight folks to support your cause.
Kaka - got that right!
They'd better not give up their daytime jobs.
Forget that homo indoctrination crap and remember what the rainbow REALLY means:
Ge 9:8-17
And God spake unto Noah, and to his sons with him, saying,
Ge 9:9
And I, behold, I establish my covenant with you, and with your seed after you;
Ge 9:10
And with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.
Ge 9:11
And I will establish my covenant with you; neither shall all flesh be cut off any more by the waters of a flood; neither shall there any more be a flood to destroy the earth.
Ge 9:12
And God said, This is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations:
Ge 9:13
I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.
Ge 9:14
And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud:
Ge 9:15
And I will remember my covenant, which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh.
Ge 9:16
And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
Ge 9:17
And God said unto Noah, This is the token of the covenant, which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.
How could they tell? Looks like Carnivale to me....
You got that right.
But just think, In 20-40 years, they will have died out.
lol at the keyword "Thelovethatwontstfu"...
Perfect.
Ahhhh, I feel much better now. Thank you.
Are go go boys and drag queens really the best PR images for gay "marriage"?
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