São Paulo's LGBT Parade Marked by "Out with Temer" Sashes and Chants

05/30/2016 - 10h43

Despite the requests of event organizers from the mayor's office asking to avoid messages against politicians, the 20th LGBT Pride Parade this Sunday (29) featured demonstrations, banners and sashes expressing opposition to acting president Michel Temer (PMDB).

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Expressions of the sort, which were also seen last weekend during the Virada Cultural festival (an event that, like the parade, is sponsored by the city), were visible on at least four floats in the LGBT parade.

On the Municipal Bureau of Human Rights float, a division tied to Fernando Haddad's (PT) government, some people displayed banners that read "Temer Never" and "Marta Betrayer"-in reference to Senator Marta Suplicy, who switched from PT to PMDB and who is expected to run against Haddad in this year's municipal elections.

Banker Josemir Costa, 47, has participated in the event for 15 years, but this was the first time he took advantage of the celebration to protest against the government.

"Our LGBT group is most at risk of suffering from the conservative backwardness of this administration, due to Temer's ties with the Fundamentalist Evangelicals", he said.

Protests also took place against the gang rape case in Rio de Janeiro. From the top of one of the floats, a drag queen shouted into the microphone: " Enough of machismo, misogyny" and "To Bring and End to the Machista Dictatorship".

The presence of the cast of the series "Sense8", produced and aired by Netflix, caused a commotion on Paulista avenue.

According to the Military Police (PM), 190,000 people were in attendance at 1515h, the event's peak time. The parade's organization comittee estimates that 3 million people passed through between 10h and 18h.

Translated by SUGHEY RAMIREZ

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