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Rio gay march hits the beach
28/06/2004 06:55 - (SA)
Rio de Janeiro - Tens of thousands of Brazilians marched and danced from one famous Rio beach to another on Sunday to celebrate gay pride and encourage legal reforms to give homosexuals more rights in South America's largest country.
Organisers of the march said 500 000 people participated, but authorities had no immediate comment on the size of the crowd heading from Copacabana Beach to neighbouring Ipanema Beach.
Dancing to techno music blaring from sound trucks, some participants were decked out in drag while others wore elaborate carnival costumes or their swimming costumes in sunny, 28-degree Celsius weather.
Toni Reis, secretary-general of the Brazilian Association of Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals and Transsexuals, wore a dark suit matching the outfit of his long-time partner, David Harrad.
The two last year won a court victory ordering officials to grant a permanent Brazilian visa to Harrad, who is British. But they say they deserve rights similar to those that heterosexual married couples enjoy, and can't get them without permission to marry or join in a civil union.
"We are very happy together but we also want our full rights as citizens," Reis said.
Civil unions between same-sex couples are permitted only in Brazil's southernmost state, Rio Grande do Sul.
The practice began this year and has not spread to other states, but the unions have stirred surprisingly little controversy in the world's biggest Roman Catholic country.
A bill to allow civil unions across Brazil has been held up in Congress for years by Evangelical Protestant lawmakers.
- SAPA
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