WORLD CELEBRATES GAY PRIDE

From New Delhi to San Francisco, this weekend saw millions of homosexuals celebrating their freedom and fighting against discrimination.

Celebrations in San Francisco saw numbers in the hundreds of thousands this Sunday, in the city’s 38th Annual LGBT Pride Celebration parade. Marital themes and matrimonial garb were a mainstay this year; less than two weeks have passed since the legalisation of same-sex marriage in the state of California.

Several other cities across the United States celebrated pride this weekend, including New York, where Governor David Paterson recently told state agencies to provide full marriage benefits to same-sex couples legally married elsewhere.

Sunday also marked the largest ever display of gay pride in three Indian cities; New Delhi, Calcutta and Bangalore, with marches calling for acceptance and an end to the discrimination in a country where homosexual acts are still illegal.

The marches came days before the Delhi High Court is expected to hear arguments on overturning a law against homosexual sex that dates to the British colonial era.

While Paris and Berlin celebrated massive gay pride events without incident, Eastern European countries Bulgaria and the Czech Republic experienced significant homophobic backlash.

Police were forced to arrest fifteen people in the Czech city of Brno on Saturday, after anti-homosexual activists were caught throwing firecrackers and tear gas at LGBT community members taking part in the local parade. Over 20 people were injured in the attacks.

Meanwhile, 60 arrests were made at Bulgaria’s first Pride march after extreme right-wing groups threw rocks, bottles and a petrol bomb at the homosexual party-goers who had turned up for the event.

Security concerns had already forced organisers and municipal authorities to change the route of the march twice and deploy a large number of police to prevent clashes.