Gay Pride was celebrated around the world this weekend, from Mexico to Yugoslavia, in parades, protests, clashes and celebrations.

More than 5,000, mostly young people, from Mexico City's gay and lesbian community came out Saturday to march in support of rights, equality and respect.

The crowd, participating in the 23rd annual gay pride parade, took control of the heart of city marching down the famous Reforma Avenue from Chapultepec Park to the Zocalo, in the city center.

Traditionally severely repressed by Mexican society, gays and lesbians lived several hours of uninhibited freedom.

The march was also marked with symbolic weddings, vividly colored balloons and rainbow flags, the recognized sign of gay pride.

Around 48 groups representing gay and lesbian organizations, AIDS awareness groups, human rights leagues, and non-governmental organizations took part in the festivities.

 Roving bands of young men attacked activists staging what was believed to be the first gay and lesbian pride march in Yugoslavia's capital, circling them one by one Saturday and kicking them until police intervened.

Dozens of people were reportedly injured, including half dozen police officers deployed to the capital's main square. Hospital officials said none of the injuries was life threatening.

The melee began even before the scheduled start of the march, as dozens of soccer hooligans and members of a nationalist group appeared at the Republic Square to prevent the march from taking place.

One of the attackers said "we are here to prevent immorality in Serbia," while others shouted, "Serbia is not a gay country." Later the hooligans smashed the front door window of the offices of a moderate political party supporting gay and lesbian equality.

Belgrade police chief Bosko Buha said he had not expected so many and such aggressive anti-gay hooligans to appear at the march, and therefore had deployed only 50 policemen without riot gear. Some of the police were forced to fire shots in the air to disperse the crowd, witnesses said.

Buha said about one dozen attackers were detained by mid-afternoon. Police were chasing them throughout Belgrade and were expecting more arrests.

An unidentified female activist said, "We will not give up our rights and our struggle to introduce democracy in Serbia. I am sorry that there are still people who promote hatred."

The attacks appeared to be organized, with soccer hooligans and ultra-nationalists among the culprits.

VENEZUELA

Challenging Venezuela's lingering machismo culture, about 1,500 people marched to drum beats through Caracas Sunday in the country's first ever gay pride parade.

Dancing to traditional salsa and merengue rhythms and tossing colorful balloons, the marchers attracted the attention of onlookers, usually unimpressed by marches in this protest-weary South American capital.

Homosexuality is legal but seldom discussed in Venezuela, except as the subject of jokes. Gay people complain of harassment -- sometimes by police -- but politicians and the government generally avoid the subject.

One prominent government official last year called another gay in an attempt to discredit him.

"We are proud to help and collaborate with the cause," said Juliana Pinental, who held her girlfriend's hand throughout the march, something she said she usually doesn't dare to do in public.

The parade paled in numbers to Brazil's gay pride parade last month, which boasted an estimated 180,000 people, making in the largest in Latin America. But the Venezuelan marchers insisted simply staging the parade was a triumph.

"If people are afraid to come out and march, fear gains power. We are trying to defeat the power of fear," said Jose Merentes, head of the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transvestite unit of Venezuela's Amnesty International chapter.

Merentes said Venezuela's gay and lesbian equality movement has become stronger and more organized in the last two years with the emergence of several non-governmental organizations to promote equal rights.

INDIA

Defying conservative Indian society, more than 100 gay and lesbian activists gathered publicly Sunday in a southern city, demanding recognition as a group and protection under the law, which regards them as criminals.

"We can be prosecuted as there is no legal protection for us," said Owasis Khan, a gay activist who runs a telephone help-line for gays in Bangalore, 1,020 miles south of New Delhi, the national capital.

Homosexuality is a crime under Indian law. There is no recognition for same-sex partners in inheritance, insurance and immigration.

The meeting in Bangalore was organized by gay and lesbian organizations and support groups. Bangalore, India's software hub and a city of young professionals, is more tolerant of alternative sexual mores than other cities in this South Asian country, where even public talk about sex is taboo.

Lesbian participants said the male-dominated Indian society had tried to control women in the name of chastity and honor.

© 2001 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Return toTBC  GLBT News
http://tampabaycoalition.homestead.com/News.html