Yesterday São Paulo hosted the
world's biggest gay pride event. 3.5 million people danced, cheered and smiled their way along Avenida Paulista and Rua da Consolação, a sea of rainbows, glitter, bare chests and beer.
I had previously attended 1 large (Amsterdam) and 2 small (Birmingham & Bangkok) events, but it was difficult for me to imagine anything on this scale. The noise, the colours, the energy - it was really like nothing i've experienced before.
All the 'usual types' were out in force - drag queens with Marge Simpson wigs, bald guys in army boots & leather thongs, teenagers in white vests and skinny jeans - but for me the most noticeable and refreshing thing was seeing the diversity of people participating: all races, all ages, all sizes; rich & poor; gay, straight and everything in between; singles & couples; parents with children
I've been here long enough to know that São Paulo is NOT Brazil (in the same way that London is not the UK and Bangkok is not Thailand) but even so it's really encouraging to see that such a deeply religious (read
Catholic) and conservative country as Brazil is able to achieve such an event, and with relatively little violence.
I got quite frustrated today to see that the coverage of the event in the lunchtime news was 90% made up of interviews with drag queens and people in comic-star costumes. I understand that such 'maverick' characters have played - and still do play - an extremely important role in winning many of the rights and possibilities that gay people enjoy today. But i also think it's sad that such narrow representation perpetuates - in the eyes of many viewers - the myth that 'gay' is synonymous with cross-dressing and glitter, that being gay is incompatible with a mainstream lifestyle. This could be clearly heard in the sniggers of the other (straight, male) customers in the boteco. Such a shame an event that had so much potential to break stereotypes and challenge prejudices has been shown to reinforce them.
So well done, São Paulo, for showing the world the diversity connected with the gay movement. Now teach the media how to represent it more accurately