Buenos Aires Gay Pride Parade
The Buenos Aires’ Gay Pride parade is the largest rainbow-colored street party of the year. The parade takes place every year on the first Saturday of November. The party begins at 3 p.m. in the Plaza de Mayo with music, dancing and plenty of photos ops for the city’s popular gay figures and most outrageous transvestites.
The parade has grown into a huge celebration from its humble beginnings in 1991.
“In the first year 17 people participated in the parade, in the second years there were 50 and in the third year we had 300,” says Rodolfo Peralta, representative of the Argentine Federation of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals and Trans (Federación Argentina de Lesbianas Gays Bisexuales y Trans). “In the fourth year, the year I began marching, we had 600 people.”
It’s just in the last few years that the Buenos Aires Gay Pride Parade has grown to massive proportions. In 2009 the parade drew an estimated 40,000-50,000 participants. This year organizers expect 70,000 to join the festivities.
Among the groups participating are the Argentine Association of Transvestites and Transsexuals, the ‘Peronist Fags’(Putos Peronistas), The Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, and the local chapter of Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays (PFLAG).
“We’re a lot of people. We have a lot to celebrate this year–not the least of which is the legalization of gay marriage,” says Peralta.
Once everyone gathers, the parade begins at 6 p.m. from Plaza de Mayo and slowly blares its way up 11 blocks of Avenida de Mayo to the Plaza Congreso.
Every year the celebration ends with live music in Plaza Congreso. In 2010 pop acts Leo Garcia and Miranda performed. In typical Buenos Aires’ fashion, expect the party to run until sunrise.
Celebrations continue all week with art shows, cinema festivals and events in gay clubs all over town.
