Global Pride Events To Renew Demands For Equality

Activists around the world are using Pride events to renew their demands for full equality.

This year’s Pride month coincides with the debate over marriage equality in Aruba.

The Joint Court of Justice of Aruba, Curaçao, Sint Maarten and of Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba that has jurisdiction over three constituent countries (Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten) and three special municipalities (Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba) within the Netherlands late last year ruled Aruba and Curaçao must extend marriage rights to same-sex couples.

According to ‘Washington Blade’, gay Aruban Sen. Miguel Mansur on Wednesday said that he and activists on the island are “pushing to have” the marriage equality debate this month, but opponents in the Aruban Parliament have been trying to delay. Mansur further stressed this year’s Pride month events are an important way to counter those who oppose marriage equality and other LGBTQ+ rights.

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“It’s especially important for representation because of the same-sex marriage law there was an onslaught of attacks by certain religious groups, an association of churches,” said Mansur. “Representation and visibility are more important than ever.”

Upwards of 30,000 people participated in the Jerusalem Pride and Tolerance Parade on June 2. Former Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid, who now leads the country’s opposition, is among those who sharply criticised members of the current government over their opposition to LGBTQ+ rights. 

“Outside are standing, like every year, the wretched thugs of Lahava movement, demonstrating against us,” said Lapid. “Only this year these people are no longer just a ridiculous bunch of dark extremists — they are part of the government. Bezalel Smotrich, (Internal Security Minister) Itamar Ben-Gvir [and] Avi Maoz, are trying to push us all back into the closet, to the dark closet of their foreknowledge.

Thai MP Pita Limjaroenrat, who is the frontrunner to become the country’s next prime minister, is among those who participated in Bangkok’s Pride parade that took place on June 4. Limjaroenrat told reporters that his government will support marriage equality and a trans rights law once it forms.

“Love is love and love must win,” said Limjaroenrat in a Facebook post.

Hundreds of people on June 4 participated in a Pride march in the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo.

Rosanna Flamer-Caldera, executive director of Equal Ground, a Sri Lankan advocacy group, on Wednesday noted that her organisation will hold a queer film festival and other events throughout Pride month. Activists in Jaffna, a city in northern Sri Lanka, are also planning to hold a Pride march.

These events will take place roughly four months after the Sri Lankan government announced it supports a bill that would decriminalise consensual same-sex sexual relations in the country.

“We are really proud of the work that we have done around bringing Pride to Sri Lanka,” said Flamer-Caldera. “It was an alien concept 19 years ago when we first started. We have started a movement in Sri Lanka around Pride.”

São Paulo’s annual Pride parade, which is among the world’s biggest, will take place on the city’s Paulista Avenue on June 11.

São Paulo LGBT+ Parade Vice President Renato Viterbo notes participants and organisers seek to “draw the attention of government officials to what public policies should be for all citizens, regardless of their sexual orientation.” The Movement for Homosexual Integration and Liberation, the Chilean advocacy that organises the annual Pride parade in Santiago, the country’s capital, says it plans to use the June 24 event as a way to demand President Gabriel Boric’s government to strengthen the country’s anti-discrimination law and to create what it describes as “an anti-discrimination institutionality.”

Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on May 29 signed his country’s Anti-Homosexuality Act with a death penalty provision for “aggravated homosexuality.” This year’s Pride events are also taking place against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine.

Anna Sharyhina, co-founder of the Sphere Women’s Association, a group that promotes LGBTQ+ rights in Ukraine, last September led a Pride march in a subway station in Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city that is less than 30 miles from the Russian border in eastern Ukraine.

The Liverpool City Region Pride Foundation and Kyiv Pride on July 29 will hold a joint Pride event in the English city of Liverpool.

“Liverpool and Ukraine remain united by love,” tweeted Pride in Liverpool on June 1. “This year Liverpool will showcase Kyiv and Ukraine’s LGBT+ spirit as our annual March with Pride is held jointly with Kyiv Pride.”

The Baltic Pride March will take place in the Estonian capital of Tallinn on June 10. Reykjavík Pride will take place in the Icelandic capital from Aug. 8-13.

The importance of Reykjavík Pride is tremendous, and has always been tremendous, for both the queer community and the society around us. This is where we come together, fight for acceptance and celebrate our successes,” Reykjavík Pride Managing Director Inga Auðbjörg K. Straumland told the Blade. “However, the backlash is hitting us, like it’s hitting our siblings across the globe. We feel that the rights of our community are sliding backwards and we acknowledge that the fight is far from over.”

“This year it’s therefore very important that we come together, ready to continue to fight for our rights; especially for the rights of those that are most marginalized within our community,” added Straumland. “We do that by uniting. By talking, dancing, shouting, demanding, singing and painting the whole city in rainbow colors; showing the rest of the world that we’re going nowhere.”

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