Pride Takes the Street

Our PRIDE is the opposite of the feeling of shame so characteristic of the LGBT-phobic oppression that permeates LGBT experiences. From its very first years, the Parade has grown exponentially and gathered millions of people to celebrate diversity and the pride of being who they are.

Annually, the Parade occupies Paulista Avenue, one of the most emblematic spaces in the city of São Paulo, aiming, above all, to celebrate LGBT+ Pride. This way, it ends up shedding light on the outcasts and making it possible for them to occupy and resignify the public space where they are so often victims of LGBT-phobic violence.

The crowd that goes to the Parade challenges certain associations of gender, sexuality, and national identity that assume the heterosexual family as a fundamental social institution. It does so by making it clear that the Parade goers—to the discomfort of certain conservative groups—also make up Brazil.

The diversity of identities and bodies is a striking feature of the Parade.

Throughout its history of over 20 years, the demonstration has grown.

It has included new causes and welcomed various groups.

It has consolidated as one of the most democratic and important events in São Paulo.

It its history of over 40 years, the Brazilian LGBT+ movement has undergone several transformations and enjoyed important achievements.

Most of them came from the Judiciary body: the recognition of equal civil marriage, the criminalisation of LGBT-phobia, and, more recently, the recognition of trans identities.

Currently, a strong conservative reaction has been trying to make these achievements invisible, aiming to weaken public policies about gender equality and dissident sexualities.

Though we have the largest LGBT+ Pride Parade in the world, Brazil still boasts an alarming number of LGBT+ murders.

In 2017, according to data from the Gay Group of Bahia, we had a record 445 people murdered by LGBT-phobia.

Because of this, a lot of LGBT+ people still feel unsafe demonstrating their love in public, for fear of being harassed and assaulted. In this context, the Parade is a moment when love is celebrated in its various forms.