2.5 million at Gay Pride in Sao Paulo Brazil

[Quetzal]

I have just got to go to this thing next year

2.5 million march in Sao Paulo Pride

A world record 2.5 million revellers descended on Sao Paulo, Brazil for the world’s biggest gay pride festival on Saturday. Dancing queens, go-go boys, and thousands dressed in the Brazilian football team’s colours, marched down the skyscraper-lined Avenida Paulista, reports the Associated Press.

The parade’s organisers sought to highlight that, in spite of the huge turnout, gays and lesbians still face homophobia in Brazil. "The bottom line is we are citizens, citizens who pay taxes and contribute to the country," said Nelson Matias Pereira, a spokesman with the Brazilian Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Pride Parade Association.

Just days earlier, almost 3 million Protestant Christians marched along the same avenue, to demonstrate their growing influence in the world’s largest Roman Catholic country. Both Protestants and Catholics oppose moves to introduce same-sex civil unions.

This is the tenth Sao Paulo Pride Festival, and organisers say a further 600,000 boosted this year’s attendance to an all-time high.

more...

http://www.gaynz.com/news/default.asp?dismode=article&artid=3552

[melnjones]

1. My friend was there!!!!!

Actually, she was with a Christian organization doing an outreach, but she saw the whole parade. (Before you guys freak out about the outreach thing, they were NOT on a "make the gays straight" mission. The whole "gays are gonna burn in hell" thing, she's not buying it. Please don't jump to conclusions about that one, as you don't know my friend or the organization.) Anywho, she emailed me to tell me she got me a present from the parade. I'm pretty pumped to see it! I wish I could have been there!!!!!!

[GodlessBiker]

2. What's the name of the organization?