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Pride 2005
Lead by Sir Ian McKellen and other high-profile homosexuals, more
than 25,000 people marched in London's gay-pride parade July 2.
Wockner News photo by John Hein/ScotsGay
GLBTs March Worldwide
Three Marchers Stabbed in Jerusalem
By Rex Wockner
Contributing Writer
With pride season in full swing, gays and lesbians have taken to the streets
worldwide - including in Panama and Greece for the first time.
The marches proceeded without incident except in Jerusalem, where a reli
gious homophobe stabbed three marchers, and hundreds of protesters pelt
ed marchers with bottles of urine and bags of feces.
About 500 people marched in the first large-scale gay-pride parade in
Athens.
"The only way to safeguard our rights is for everyone to understand that
homosexuality is a reality and that people should not behave as if we don't
exist" marcher Maria Gouma told The Scotsman newspaper.
About 300,000 people turned out for pride in Paris. The procession snaked
from the Montparnasse train station to the Bastille.
The parade was so massive that some marchers waited hours to step off
from the Left Bank starting point.
About 250 people marched in Kolkata (Calcutta), India, "dressed in gaudy,
revealing domes," said Rediff.com.
Police made no effort to halt the parade even though homosexuality is ille
gal
"We want to tell the world we exist," said Teesta, a 27-year-old student
More than 125,000 people turned out for Toronto's 25th parade — indud
continued on page 8
Spain, Canada Legalize
Same Sex Marriage
By Rex Wockner
Contributing Writer
Now there are four. Spain
and Canada last week joined
the Netherlands and
Belgium in extending full
marriage rights to same-sex
couples.
Spain legalized same-sex
marriage and gay adoption
on June 30. The vote in the
Congress of Deputies was
187 to 147 with four absten
tions.
The Senate had rejected
the bill, but it is the Congress
that has final say.
Gay couples were allowed
to begin the process of get
ting married on July 3, when
the law change was pub
lished in the Boletfo Qficial
delEstado. <
Hundreds of thousands of
people celebrated at
Madrid's gay-pride parade
July 2.
Today, Spanish society is
responding to a group of
people who for years have
been humiliated, whose
rights have been ignored,
their dignity offended, their
identity denied and their
freedom restricted," Prime
Minister Jose Luis
Rodriguez Zapatero said
June 30. "Today Spanish
society grants them the
Somewhere between 97,000 and 2 million’peo-'
pie turned out for the gay-pride parade in
Madrid July 2, one day before Spain's new law
legalizing same-sex marriage and gay adoption
came into force. Police said there were 97,000
people; El Pais newspaper (Spain's largest)
said 280,000; Reuters said "hundreds of thou
sands" and organizers said 2 million. "The
path of the parade, decided at the last moment
by the police, was really complicated because
we were in streets that were not big enough,
and there was a collapse," said veteran gay
activist Jordi Petit.
Wockner News Service photo by Yves Bohic
respect they deserve, recognizes their
rights, restores their dignity, affirms
their identity and restores their liberty.
"We are not the first [country to do
this] but I am sure we will not be the
last," he said. "After us will come many
other countries, driven, ladies and gen
tlemen, by two unstoppable forces:
freedom and equality.
"[This is] a small change in wording
that means an immense change in the
lives of thousands of citizens. We are
not legislating, ladies and gentlemen,
for people who are far away and
unknown to us. We are expanding
opportunities for the happiness of our
neighbors, our work colleagues, our
friends, our relatives.
'It is true that [gays] are only a minor
ity but their triumph is a triumph for
everybody.... Their victory makes us all
better, makes our society better."
Gay campaigners were elated.
"Finally, gays and lesbians are no
longer second-class citizens," said the
Spanish COLEGAS Federation of
Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and
Transsexuals. "We pridefully see our
selves as citizens of this great nation
that is Spain where liberty and equality
have triumphed at last.
"Gays and lesbians are now going to
take a well-deserved rest after these
past several months of suffering being
viewed as strange animals — and hav
ing ourselves and our families
observed under a magnifying glass,"
the group said.
The European Region of the
International Lesbian and Gay
Association called the law’s passage a
blow to the Roman Catholic Church.
"Spain proved that it is a modem and
continued on page 9
For information on Crape Myrtle Festival XXV, see www.crapemyrtlefest.org