A million people gathered to celebrate Madrid Pride Saturday, marching behind the slogan “Visibility, Pride and Resilience”. Meanwhile, about 10 – 15,000 people joined Bucharest Pride in defiance of planned legislation that will endanger future Romanian parades.
Madrid Pride
Madrid saw no Pride parade in 2020 and a downsized event in 2021, both due to COVID. But Saturday, over 1 million people gathered on city streets for Europe’s biggest Pride event.
The Madrid Pride Parade began at 9pm in a bid to escape the worst of the searing summer heat. Marchers cooled each other down with bursts from water pistols.
FELGTBI+, the Spanish LGBTQ federation, described visibility as a priority despite the country’s progressive record on LGBTIQA+ rights. The organisation denounced growing hate speech, “undermining the foundations of social harmony, putting at risk the gains achieved up to now.”
Madrid pride opened yesterday. Check out all the parties, parades and more !
🌈 https://t.co/z3vEKxyS2n | #gaymadrid #madridpride #gaypride #pride #orgullo #OrgulloMadrid2022 #orgullomadrid pic.twitter.com/7X7X1nL4DT— Gay Travel 4u (@gaytravel4u) July 8, 2022
Bucharest Pride
Meanwhile, Romanians celebrated Bucharest Pride in the shadow of impending anti-LGBTIQA+ legislation. The country’s lower house will soon consider a bill banning so-called gay propaganda in schools. The legislation echoes similar laws in Russia and Hungary, not to mention Florida.
Local rights groups warned the legislation could lead to the censorship of queer movies and news about the LGBT community. It may also mean restrictions on public events like Pride, as has happened in Russia.
Although Romania decriminalised homosexuality in 2001, the country still disallows same-sex marriage and even civil partnerships.
However, a ‘Normality’ march held in opposition to Bucharest Pride failed to arouse enthusiasm. Less than a hundred bigots turned out to parade their ignorance in public.
Yesterday’s Pride march in Bucharest brought together 15-20,000 people. The ‘Normality March’ against it was much much tinier, just tens of people (third image) pic.twitter.com/jyQCH3ar7I
— Paula Erizanu (@paulaerizanu) July 10, 2022
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