This post was submitted by John "Jolly" Bavoso

In my annual State of Pride post last year I mentioned that, like the infamous snowbirds of my home states of New York and New Jersey, Pride, which is most often celebrated June in the Northern Hemisphere, migrates south when the weather turns cold around these parts. Which makes total sense, since who wants to wear leather chaps in the snow? It also happens that some of the biggest and more symbolic Pride celebrations have just taken place, so let’s take a look at them.

One of the world’s largest and oldest Pride parades takes place towards the end of February each year in Sydney, Australia as part of the country’s annual Mardi Gras celebrations. And this year was no exception. Sydney, which was recently named the gay-friendliest city in the world, played host to a massive event:

“Almost 10,000 people shimmied, strutted and strode through the ages on Saturday as Sydney celebrated its 32nd gay and lesbian Mardi Gras parade.

More than 100 floats with 9,500 performers filled the city’s streets, with Osama bin Laden and Michael Jackson among figures to feature in the History of the World” themed event.

And that only includes the people that actually marched in the parade itself. If you count those who came out to celebrate the number is much higher:

Balmy weather meant crowds were bigger than last year, with media reports suggesting as many as 300,000 turned out to watch the Saturday night parade, which featured drag queens and scores of George Michael look-alikes.

As with any massive event, the festivities weren’t without their problems. There were three stabbing incidents and thirty-five people were arrested over the course of the weekend, which is actually down from last year and pretty good, I’d say, given the sheer number of people in attendance. As the event’s organizer said: “It is enormously heartening to see our gay pride event so eagerly supported by the broader community.”

Elsewhere, Pride festivities took on a more serious and political tone.  Earlier this month, Cape Town, South Africa held their annual Pride festivities, complete with a healthy dose of protest to complement the revelry. As I’ve mentioned before, South Africa is in a unique position as the first country in the world to write non-discrimination based on sexual orientation into its constitution and one of the few countries in the world to legalize same-sex marriage while also being part of a region that is currently having some very public battles over gay rights play out on the national level. And, sure enough, this contrast was evident at the festivities:

Thousands of people took part in a raucous gay pride march Saturday in Cape Town, South Africa’s gay capital, pressing for more tolerance in Africa, one of the world’s most homophobic regions… They held up banners saying “Your hate won’t make me straight,” “I was born gay,” “Jesus says ‘love your neighbour’,” and “Hate is unAfrican.” The marchers denounced a proposed anti-gay law in Uganda calling for tough penalties against homosexuality, including the death penalty, and the jailing of two men in nearby Malawi after staging the nation’s first public same-sex wedding.

It appears that, overall, the event was a success.

In some additional Pride news from up North, it appears that the eastern European country of Slovakia will attempt hold a Pride festival this May. I say “attempt” because Pride festivities are usually very controversial and even violent events in Eastern Europe, as evidenced by the fact that a Lithuanian Member of Parliament is already trying to derail this year’s Baltic Pride, which is scheduled for May as well.

Have any Global Gaze readers been to a Pride celebration down South? Any differences you’ve noticed from the events you’ve been to elsewhere? Leave your thoughts in the comments section below!

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