Floripa´s  first annual gay parade                             Back to JOUR 440 page

By Cristina Madrid

Drag queens, transvestites, gay, lesbian, bisexual and friends were all invited to the city´s first annual gay parade on Sunday, July 9. The first gay parade in Floripa was attended by more than 30,000 people, according to the organizers.

Following in the footsteps of Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, the parade will celebrate Florianópolis´ large gay and lesbian community.

Audenir Cursino, president of the Association of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transsexual Entreprenuers of Santa Catarina, organized the historic event.

“There is a very big gay community here in Floripa,” Cursino said. “Out of the 400,000 people who live here about 10 percent are gay or lesbian.”

While the theme of the parade is “carnival,” supporters are urged to take this matter very seriously.

A view of the first Gay Pride Parade in Florianopolis (photo by Agencia GLS.com.br)

“We are doing this because we would like to break the prejudice cycle that exists,” Cursino said. “We are fighting  for human rights.”

Those rights in particular include the “right to marry and for stricter laws against people who discriminate against those who are gay,” he said.

Beginning at 4:30 p.m. at Koxyxo´s bar on Beira Mar Avenue, tens of thousands are expected to march for gay rights.

During the parade there will be a stage where drag queens will perform musical tunes, such as Gloria Gaynor´s “I will survive” and the Village People´s “YMCA”.

There will also be five  “trio elétricos”, a  Brazillian type of carnival float, driving down Beira Mar Avenue towards the parade´s end  at the city´s famous Hercilio Luz Bridge.

Léo Lobo, a gay Brazillian actor and television host, will be the grand marshall of the parade.

Brazillian politicians are expected to be in attendence.

The organization is allowing them to speak for three minutes each on stage about the parade, but not about politics, Cursino said.

The parade is estimated to cost $80,000 reais, or equivalent to $40,000 U.S. dollars.

Money raised for the parade has come from public and private donations and from sales of t-shirts that Cursino´s group is selling.

City Mayor Dario Berger donated $5,000 reais as a personal donation.

Also as a part of human diversity week, Cursino´s organization set up shop in “Centro”, downtown Floripa, to showcase movies, artwork, and photographs of gay artists and to show a more positive side of gay culture.

Cursino said that they suffer more prejudice from homosexuals than from heterosexuals because their is a debate about the gay image.

Carol Borges, a lesbian artist, who goes by the nickname “Carol Trans,” is excited to be participating in the parade.

“It is very important that we get together to be happy and united because the prejudice will never end,” she said.

Cursino said that the main opponent of the gay community is Brazil´s strong Catholic Church.

Last week, evangelical supporters held a parade of their own against the gay parade.

“[They] say that we are breaking what the Bible said that marriage is between a man and a women,” he said.

Rio de Janiero, Sao Paulo, and Florianópolis, ranking in this order, are the three biggest cities in Brazil that offer gay tourism, according to www.diversidadefloripa.com.br, a site that promotes cultural diversity and tolerance in Florianopolis.

Julianna Gomez, a mechinical engineer at the Universidad Federal de Santa Catarina, said “I think people here from the city are accepting, but there are some who have a prejudice against gays. They think if you participate in the parade you're gay too.”