Berlin gay pride parade draws 700,000 people

BERLIN - Agence France-Presse

Camp costumes and colorful drag flooded the streets of Berlin on Saturday as hundreds of thousands took part in the city’s annual Christopher Street Day gay pride parade.

Marching and dancing to thumping techno music, the crowds made their way from the cosmopolitan Kreuzberg district to the Brandenburg Gate, where DJs and musicians were scheduled to keep the party going until midnight.

The German capital’s gay mayor, Klaus Wowereit, kicked off the event. Organizers said 700,000 people had taken part in the parade, which celebrated its 34th anniversary this year.

The treatment of homosexuals in Russia was a hot topic at the parade, with some participants bearing giant portraits of President Vladimir Putin and Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev retouched in the flamboyant style of gay French artists Pierre and Gilles.

Gay pride parades are banned in Moscow and since 2006 have been systematically dispersed when organizers try to start them.

Homosexuality was a crime in Russia until 1993 and was classified as a mental illness until 1999.

Christopher Street Day parades commemorate the Stonewall uprising of June 28, 1969, when police harassment at a New York gay bar sparked five days of rioting that launched the U.S. gay rights movement.

Israelis flock by the thousands to Tel Aviv's annual Gay Pride Parade

Speaking at the event, attended by thousands of tourists U.S. ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro says: Human rights are gay rights and gay rights are human rights.

By Ilan Lior

Thousands of people participated in Tel Aviv's 14th Gay Pride Parade on Friday, including many tourists arrived in Israel to attend the annual gay pride week-long events.

The parade got underway in Gan Meir park, following an event which marked the conclusion of the week-long carnival in Israel's largest city. Among the speakers were top political and municipal officials, including U.S. Ambassador Dan Shapiro.

Opposition leader Shelly Yachimovich (Labor) said that "on this joyful day there's a need to remember that we have only completed a part of the long way ahead of us." Yachimovich added that the call for gay rights and for social justice is identical: "it's the same fight. You will never march alone."

Meretz chair Zahava Gal-On (Meretz) accused politicians, rabbis and other public figures in discriminating against the gay community, asking them to follow Obama's lead: "next time there's a vote on a bill for civilian marriage, which included same-sex marriage, don't oppose it, endorse it."

Wearing a t-shirt depicting the gay pride flag, U.S. envoy Shapiro addressed the crowd in Hebrew, saying that "this is a day to celebrate and rejoice. Human rights are gay rights and gay rights are human rights." Also mentioning Obama, Shapiro said that the U.S. administration is showing dedication in removing the obstacles on the way to equality.

After marching the streets of Tel Aviv, the parade reached its peak in a huge beach party at Gordon Beach.

Gay Pride festivities kick off in Tel Aviv

By YONI COHEN

Parade will include a procession of floats and organized groups of marchers; tens of thousands expected to take part.

The streets of Tel Aviv were filled with rainbow-colored pride flags on Friday as thousands of people were taking part in the annual Gay Pride March.

The festivities began at 10 a.m. with a community happening at Meir Park with musical performances, celebrity appearances and speeches by public figures such as Tel Aviv Mayor Ron Huldai, Meretz MK Nitzan Horowitz and Labor leader Shelly Yechimovich.

The parade itself began at 1 p.m. and included a procession of floats and organized groups of marchers accompanied by thousands of supporters waving pride flags and enjoying the fine summer weather. The parade will leave Meir Park, travel down Bugrashov Street then pass through Ben Yehuda Street onto Arlozorov Street, ending with a beach party at Gordon Beach at 3 p.m. Appearing on the central stage at Gordon Beach will be some of Tel Aviv's top DJs including Offer Nissim, Tal Cohen and Avihai Partok. Internationally recognized Israeli musicians Ivri Lider and Jonny Goldstein, the two main members of the pop-dance group The Young Professionals, will be hosting Uriel Yekutiel on stage.

A number of major streets were closed to traffic during the time of the parade including Bugrashov Street, Ben Yehuda Street between Bugrashov and Jabotinsky as well as parts of Arlozorov Street closest to the beach.

Thousands of tourists arrived in Tel Aviv over the past week to take part in activities gearing up to the main parade. Hilton Beach was decorated with gay pride flags and chill out music has entertained locals and tourists alike. The beach, which is popular among the local gay community, hosted some of the top DJs from the city's leading clubs.

This year the pride events were held under the banner "Pride Flags Countrywide." Though the central events are in Tel Aviv, everyone in the country should be able to walk the streets with pride, the Tel Aviv mayor's advisor on Gay Community Affairs explained recently.

"The message that we chose this year actually casts spotlight outside the city, on the periphery and the periphery's connection with Tel Aviv-Jaffa as Israel's secular and gay capital," Yaniv Weizman, who is also a member of the City Council, told reporters in Tel Aviv. "Most of the gays, lesbians and transgenders who currently live in Tel Aviv were not born in the city and have strengthened our pride by coming from all over the country."

Last year an estimated 100,000 people took part in the parade, carrying colorful banners calling for equality under the banner “Being gay is ‘shaveh’ [worthwhile/ equal]. Organizers expect similar numbers this year.