A little older, a little more tired, San Francisco and New York's gay pride parades turned 40 ten days ago, and this past weekend more than one million people celebrated their own pride in London (where mayor Boris Johnson announced his support of marriage equality), Madrid (honoring transsexuals and, unrelated, Kylie performed), and Toronto. Chicago's event went sports crazy with the Blackhawks' Stanley Cup in the parade and, for the first time, an official float from the Cubs.
More in keeping with the spirit of 1970's scary brave marches are the world's emerging pride parades, undaunted by bouts of antigay violence.
Minsk's first gay pride saw 25 marchers met with extraordinary brutality from the police, who beat, humiliated, and jailed most of the participants for 48 hours. Video.
Bratislava's first Rainbow pride was briefly disrupted by 100 protesters throwing eggs, rocks, and tear gas cans despite 200 police on the scene. Video.
In St. Petersburg, three dozen lgbt activists gathered in a courtyard of the Hermitage for an unsanctioned gay pride event after again being denied a permit to march. At least five were arrested and detained by police. Photos.
The third pride parade in Sofia, Bulgaria attracted 700 people and 300 police. The lgbt theme of "Love Equality, Embrace Diversity" was met with antigay protest signs "No To Moral Decay" and "Bulgaria is a normal place -- Gays should go to jail." Video.
At the ninth pride parade in Zagreb, "almost a thousand" people marched in Croatia's biggest ever gay rights event [above]. Forty-one years later, note the sign that says "Stonewallske" in the link. Video.
Budapest's 15th pride march will happen this Saturday. Past events have been marked by antigay violence, and already this year extremists assaulted a few people at the lgbt film festival opening night ceremony.
Helsinki's pride parade attracted about 2,500 people and three young men who attacked the crowd with pepper spray (below). One of the 18 year-old perps posted Neo-Nazi sympathies on his Facebook page; all three remain in custody, owing to the premeditated nature of their assault. Rather than ignoring or minimizing the incident, Finland's president told the media that the nation's reputation abroad had "suffered a severe blow." He said, "It has taken decades of work to convince [the minorities] that we really do stand on the side of human rights and value people's personal right to freely choose their sexual orientation."
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