ONE MILLION TURN OUT FOR MADRID GAY PRIDE

Advertorial

more_than_a_million_turn_out_for_madrid_gay_pride_paradeEurope’s largest gay Pride event saw an estimated 1.2 million people turn out to celebrate LGBT equality in the Spanish capital.

Saturday’s parade through Madrid’s packed streets was the culmination of the city’s annual Pride festival that was kicked off by Eurovision winner Conchita Wurst on Wednesday.

The mood was celebratory, with cheering participants waving rainbow flags as buses and trucks packed with revellers, including hordes of shirtless muscled men dancing to club music, drove past.

“I came because I was told it is the biggest Gay Pride parade, and that’s true,” Frenchman Christophe Probst told AFP. “It’s fantastic. The whole city gets involved. There is nothing else like it.”

Madrid is acknowledged as one of Europe’s’ gay capitals and is famous for its Chueca gay district.

more_than_a_million_turn_out_for_europes_largest_gay_pride_paradeExpressing the event’s more serious side, Pride organiser Boti G. Rodrigo said in a statement that the parade was in honour of those people who faced discrimination elsewhere in the world

“It is time to speak up for all those who cannot, so they can see that they are not alone in suffering, that we are fighting for their freedoms and for our own and that LGBT human rights are inalienable,” she explained.

Spain’s LGBT community is blessed with one of the world’s most LGBT affirming legal systems. The country legalised same-sex marriage in 2005 and also allows for adoption by same-sex couples.

Watch a video of the Madrid Pride festivities below.

Get the Mamba Newsletter

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Send this to a friend