By Lise Alves, Senior Contributing Reporter
SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – With the theme “50 Years of Stonewall”, more than three million people packed São Paulo’s Avenida Paulista to celebrate diversity and demand respect for their sexual orientation. The 23rd edition of the LGBTI+ Pride Parade, dubbed the biggest Pride Parade in the world, also praised the recent decision by Brazil’s Supreme Court which criminalizes homophobia.
“We chose the theme and discussed it with our militants for the past three months because it is a milestone in the history of the movement,” Renato Viterbo, vice president of the LGBT Pride Parade Association of São Paulo, told reporters.
Around the world, LGBTI+ communities are remembering the events in New York City in 1969 where police raided Stonewall, a bar catering to LGBTI+ patrons. The event led to a series of demonstrations. Stonewall is said to be a milestone for LGBTI+ rights activism.
Last week during a press conference about the parade, São Paulo City Mayor, Bruno Covas, said that celebrating Stonewall during a time when “we see a bank director being fired because he hires actors from the LGBTI community” is significant.
Without directly mentioning the federal government, Covas alluded to the dismissal of a Banco do Brasil communications and marketing director who had approved an advertising campaign featuring actors from the LGBTI+ community. The ad was pulled from Brazilian TV by President Jair Bolsonaro, and the director was dismissed.
According to Covas, it is the obligation of the city and the country to protect diversity. “City Hall participates in the parade because it is an obligation of the government, not only to protect our diversity but also celebrate our diversity,” he told journalists.
This year’s parade had nineteen floats and several renowned artists. Among the international attractions was Spice Girl Mel C.
“It’s beautiful!” sales clerk Eduardo Silveira told The Rio Times. “I come down every year from Campinas, but this year seems to be bigger. I think Brazilian society is getting more accustomed to diversity, to letting people be who they want to be, not to be as judgmental,” said Silveira.
While Silveira came from a city approximately two hours away from São Paulo, others came from very far away.
“We came down from Fortaleza (capital of Ceará state) to see our daughter during the Corpus Cristi holiday, and decided to check the Parade out,” said the middle-aged man who did not want to give his name to journalists.
“I think the entire discrimination thing is just silly. We have much more important things to focus on in this country. Who cares who someone else is sleeping with? I want my government to reduce poverty, unemployment, crime, not worry about what is going on in someone else’s bedroom,” he said.
But while most of the people at Sunday’s parade were there for the party and music, many groups celebrated Brazil’s Supreme Court (STF), which earlier this month criminalized homophobia.
“I think it’s a consistent and symbolic decision,” stated the president of the National LGBTI+ Alliance, Toni Reis.
“Our challenge now is to introduce a bill in Congress that recognizes the decision by STF equating LGBTIfobia with racism, and that President Bolsonaro will sanction,” said Reis after the court’s decision.
According to Reis, measures will be needed to ensure compliance with the decision, “not to turn people into LGBTs, but to turn them into people who respect LGBTI.”
Reis, however, admits that bringing about awareness and acceptance will be tough. President Bolsonaro once referred to himself as a “proud homophobe”.
“I voted for him (Bolsonaro) because I wanted to end the disgusting corruption that was going on in Brasília,” said someone called João in a low voice. “I didn’t believe he would come down so hard on the civil liberties of the Brazilian population. I was naïve, I guess.”
Nonetheless, the 20-something participant, dressed in black with glitter on his face, said that he was attending the parade to voice his discontentment with the current government’s policies regarding the LGBTI community. Several times during the event, one could hear the crowd shouting phrases against president Jair Bolsonaro.
“We are showing this administration that we will not cower down and sit in a corner. We deserve to be respected, and we will demand our rights right along with others in the country,” added João.
This year’s parade’s honorary host, actress and TV presenter Fernanda Lima, agrees. “It’s a fight that has no end, it’s a fight for respect and dignity,” she said in an interview with GloboNews.
According to city officials, São Paulo this year invested approximately R$1.8 million to support the Parade, providing sixty police cars, eighty firefighters and more than 800 security agents to keep party-goers safe. Multinational companies like Burger King, Avon, and Uber sponsored the event. Last year, the event reportedly brought over R$288 million in revenue to the city.