The demonstration and an endless parade of floats make the center of the capital bustle with hundreds of thousands of people who join party and claim after the pause due to the pandemic
A carnival of slogans, brightness and colors. There is no place for greys, only rainbows reign. Many and many adorned with giant feathers. Others with multicolored flags as a cape or pareo. Drums, dance and banners. Joy and vindication have reconquered the streets. The Pride is back. The shouts, the hugs and the kisses are the protagonists, once again, of the great LGTBI state demonstration. After two years of invisibility as a result of the social restrictions caused by the covid pandemic, hundreds of thousands of people -a million according to the organizers’ calculations, between 600,000 and 700,000, according to the Government Delegation- packed the center this Saturday Madrid to make it clear to everyone that, despite the involuntary break, the wardrobe will never be an option again.
The march, which covered the four and a half kilometers that separate the Atocha roundabout from the Plaza de Colón for more than two hours, started around seven in the afternoon behind the banner with the main motto of this edition, ‘In the face of hate, Pride, visibility and resilience’. It was carried by the representatives of the main LGTBI organizations and behind them marched leaders of trade unions, associations and NGOs, the spokesmen of civil society. In a third block there were already the leaders of all the political parties except PP and Vox, among them were socialist ministers such as Fernando Grande-Marlaska, Diana Morant or Pilar Alegría, or from Podemos, such as Ione Belarra and Irene Montero.
Uge Sangil, president of the LGTBI State Federation and in charge of reading the manifesto, demanded that Parliament urgently approve the ‘Trans law’ that the Government has just sent her and demanded that politicians make a State pact against hate speech. Regarding the first, she compared the relevance of this rule with the same-sex marriage law enacted in 2005 and assured that “we are living a historic moment.” She asked the deputies for speed “because the rights of lesbians, bisexuals, gays, intersexuals and, above all, trans people depend on their approval.”
Regarding the second, the increase in homophobic attacks and hate speech, he recalled that Pride 2022 has honored Samuel Luiz, the young man beaten to death in La Coruña just ago by a mob that was angry with him because he was “faggot” . “Many people have been the object of accusations and attacks for loving differently, for being part of diversity,” Sangil said.
LGTBI leaders demand the urgent approval of the ‘Trans law’ and a State pact against hate speech
This leader of the LGTBI movement also did not overlook the risk that she believes the retrograde and sexist speeches of Vox and other right-wing organizations pose. However, she concluded that “we are going to win, convincing society. We are going to win with hope for equality.”
great deployment
The desire to return to the streets has been noted in each face, in the explosion of emotions that was perceived throughout the route, and in the very ambition and deployment of the great festive parade that is the second part and the natural continuation of the march. . More than 100 entities, 1,000 volunteers and up to 40 floats, a record number, marched in the colorful protest parade.
In one of the floats, in that of the RTVE corporation, was the Eurovisionist Chanel, one of the most applauded, which aroused almost as much expectation among the attendees as the search for the Colombian singer Karol G, who by surprise announced that she was in the
The march put the icing on the cake for more than a week of Pride festivities in Madrid, which for years has become a world benchmark for this protest party. This was demonstrated this Saturday by the streets full of multiple languages and nationalities, which in the previous days had been clearly seen in the alleys and squares of Chueca.
Isabel Pantoja, in Pride: “I am one of you”
Isabel Pantoja was the great protagonist of the early hours of Saturday during the Pride events in Madrid. The tonadillera was made to wait, but thousands of attendees waited to receive her with a thunderous ovation when she went up on stage, where she, among other songs, sang ‘Enamorate’. Pantoja received the MR. Gay 2022, an award that she assured that she had already been offered in the past but that, due to circumstances in her life, she had not been able to receive.
The singer charmed the public with her words before singing. “I am one of you. Your pride is my pride because without you I would not be great », she affirmed. Then he sang along with them.
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