Tension is the word that can translate the atmosphere that precedes the 4th Piracicaba Gay Parade (SP). All because, last Wednesday (24/11), the city council's tourism secretary, Omir Lourenço, released a letter demanding that the Parade end at 19pm and that no alcoholic beverages be sold.
Yesterday, Thursday (25/11), at the opening ceremony of the activities of the II Piracicaba LGBT Meeting, the general coordinator of the NGO Centro de Apoio e Solidariedade à vida (CASVI), Anselmo Figueiredo, questioned the city hall's decisions made in time. "No one can stop people from drinking. The sale of drinks is something that is not our responsibility to monitor," said Anselmo.
Then, the activist recalled that in the last Gay Parade there were no problems due to drinking. "Last year, 25 thousand people participated in the Parade and there were no incidents of excessive alcohol consumption", questioned Anselmo. "It's true that the city hall has been helping us, but this short-notice attitude is very strange… No more homophobia!", he concluded, to loud applause.
Majority
A moment of great emotion was when they held a ceremony in honor of CASVI's 18th anniversary. A video was shown telling the story of the group, which began supporting people with HIV/AIDS and now deals with harm reduction and LGBT issues. On stage, the founders of the group were called and then the current pregnant women, in addition to those who collaborated at some point.
Photos that recorded countless moments of CASVI at gatherings, field work, meetings and lectures were also displayed. The founders spoke about the history of the group, how good it is to see today that the seed they planted has worked and that countless young people are part of CASVI a model NGO for the rest of the State of São Paulo.
