Hosting Europride for the first time, an event that brings together the various gay movements in Europe, Madrid welcomed around 1,5 million people on Saturday for the gay parade. Spanish Culture Minister Carmen Calvo and the leaders of the country's two main unions, among others, participated.
More than 40 electric trios participated in the march, accompanied by GLBTs, families and straight people. The atmosphere of joy, however, did not forget the movement's demands, set out in a manifesto read at the end of the parade.
The text stated that, since the first demonstration of gay pride, 30 years ago in Barcelona, the social and legal recognition of homosexuals has become a reality, but, despite advances, “there is still much to be done against discrimination and homophobia".
The manifesto also recalled that in countries such as Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Mauritania, Nigeria, Sudan and Yemen, homosexual relations are punishable by the death penalty, and that, within Europe, the “conservative, retrograde” government , archaic and backward” from Poland openly promotes the persecution of homosexuals.
In Spain, gay marriage was legalized in 2005.
