ALMOST 4 MILLION CELEBRATE SAO PAULO PRIDE

Despite rain and cool weather, the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo’s Pride event retained its title as the biggest Pride in the world after almost four million people took part in Sunday’s parade.

The estimated more than 3.5 million participants and a host of colourful floats streamed down Paulista avenue in the city centre over a ten hour period for the event’s 17th annual outing.

The theme this year was “Back to the closet, never again! Union and awareness in the fight against homophobia”.

Former Sao Paulo mayor and current Culture Minister Marta Suplicy told the cheering crowd that the Brazilian constitution should be amended so that “we are all citizens with the same rights”.

Brazilian LGBT people have been celebrating growing recognition of same-sex marriage in the country. The courts have declared same-sex marriage to be legal in the world’s largest Roman Catholic nation.

Despite this, a law legalising same-sex marriage has yet to be approved by the National Congress, where it faces strong opposition from religious politicians. Some marriage license offices have also refused to authorise gay marriages.

Last month, the National Council of Justice, which oversees Brazil’s legal system, said that the government did not need to wait for a marriage equality bill to be passed and said that it should immediately ensure marriage equality in the country. The ruling, however, may yet be appealed.