Madrid Hosts Europride As Other EU Cities Also Celebrate

Europe saw the colors of the rainbow this weekend, as Madrid hosted the 2007 Europride and other Pride events took place in Paris and the UK.

The 2007 edition of Europride commended at 4 p.m. Saturday in Madrid, the culmination of a week of activities and celebrations that drew an estimated 2.5 million participants.

The parade, which made its way through the middle of Spain's capitol city, featured 45 floats, including entries from Manchester, Marseille, and Zurich; a huge concert was scheduled for later in the day at the site of the parade's conclusion.
Yahoo! News reported on the event in Sunday posting. "We are very proud to receive the rest of Europe," said Spain's Minister of Culture, Carmen Calvo, in the story. "Today, Spain is an example of advanced democracy."
Spain granted marriage equality to its gay and lesbian citizens in 2005, and with it, the right to adopt children. Calvo called Spain a "torchbearer," according to the Yahoo! News story, and said, "We must fight homophobia and reactionary attitudes."
More than 10,000 Spanish same-sex couples have wed since the 2005 advent of marriage equality, according to 365Gay.com.
In Paris, Pride drew about 700,000 participants, including GLBT families, whose march followed a banner that said, "We will not compromise on equality."
This was, according to the Yahoo! News piece, a message for the French government, which has taken a hard anti-marriage equality stance.
"Dialogue with the majority must continue at all costs, even if difficult," said spokesman Alain Perou of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transsexual Association. "And if one day we need to raise our voices, we know how to do it but this is not the time."
According to the Yahoo! News item, Perou characterized the parade's message of "constructive," rather than critical of the government.
In London, Saturday's Pride crowd was not deterred by weather or by the fact that police had found two cars rigged up as bombs with gasoline and nails earlier in the week. Security was increased, but the festivities went on, attended by Mayor Ken Livingstone, who told the BBC, "I think people are completely safe to walk about the streets of London" during the event, and added, "I have promised my family all week that we are all going on the Gay Pride march. We will all be there."

Along with marriage equality and adoption rights, Spain also offers transgendered citizens the right to legally change their gender status without undergoing the rigorous surgical and hormonal treatments needed for physical gender reassignment. Spanish GLBT leaders expressed hope that Europride would inspire European Union nations that have not yet embraced their GLBT citizens with acceptance.

Antonia Poveda, president of the Spanish Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, and Transsexuals, said that the rights of gays were "still regularly flouted in Russia and Poland," according to the story.

The 2007 Europride was also a benchmark since it commemorated the 30th GLBT celebration there since the first Pride event, which took place in 1977, two years after the death of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco.

Last weekend saw Pride festivities in Berlin, Germany, and Athens, Greece.

Stockholm is slated to host Europride next year.