Where governments are lukewarm, foreign diplomats like Ms Ohlsson often feature in the first event.
But in Brazil in 2012, according to Grupo Gay da Bahia, an advocacy organisation, 338 people were murdered in homophobic hate crimes. São Paulo’s, the world’s largest, attracts more than 3m participants and around $75m in tourist revenues annually. By contrast the main threat for revellers in the parade in Washington, DC-nearly 40 years old and one of the city’s attractions-is the summer heat, says Ryan Bos, the executive director of the organisation that runs it.Ī flashy parade may indicate a government’s commitment to gay rights, but not necessarily wide acceptance. But last year was the third that Serbian authorities refused to allow a march, fearing a repeat of the violence that marred Belgrade’s first, in 2010. Ukraine’s first, in May, also featured a heavy police presence. Last October the first parade in Podgorica, the capital of EU-hopeful Montenegro, had almost 2,000 police protecting 150 marchers from ten times as many protesters. Today’s vary from solemn rallies calling for acceptance and equality in homophobic places to huge street parties sponsored by city authorities keen on the tourist revenues. The first pride marches, in America four decades ago, were protests against police violence and harassment.
