By Arkady Petrov
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – São Paulo City Hall confirmed on Friday, June 28th, that the 23rd edition of the LGBT Parade raised R$403 (US$100) million for the city. The event took place last Sunday, June 23rd, and brought together three million people on Avenida Paulista, according to the organizers.
The figure is forty percent higher than the R$288 million in economic turnover recorded by the city government in the 2018 edition of the event.
According to a survey conducted by the Municipal Secretary of Tourism, the 2019 Parade also registered a 78 percent increase in the number of visitors compared to 2017, the last year of study.
Average tourist spending increased from R$1,112 (US$278) in 2017 to R$1,634 (US$408) in 2019, representing a 46.9 percent increase.
Claimed to be the largest in the world, São Paulo’s 23rd LGBT Pride Parade brought together three million people on Sunday, June 23rd, at Avenida Paulista, according to the organizers. In all, 19 sound truck stages paraded for around seven hours of performances.
The audience was delighted with international sensation Mel C, a former member of Spice Girls, and also with Brazilian shows such as Iza, Karol Conk, Gloria Groove, Aretuza Love, Luisa Sonza, Lulu Santos, and others.
The “warm-up” of the Parade was marked by a collective wedding that took place early in the morning in a mobile notary office on Avenida Paulista. Later, the four couples took part in the parade on top of a sound truck stage, where drag queen Tchaka emphasized the importance of respecting homoaffective couples.
This year’s theme was “50 Years of Stonewall”, a conflict that took place in 1969 in a bar in the United States and is a landmark for LGBT community activism. Politicians spoke during the opening ceremony, and there were public demonstrations against President Jair Bolsonaro (PSL).
According to the Secretariat of Public Security (SSP), 18 people were arrested for theft, and 14 cell phones were seized.