July 7, 2002

LIMA, Peru (AP) --In conservative and predominantly Catholic Peru, Robby Bernaola decided to dress as a butterfly to march in the country's first gay pride parade.

"They usually brand us 'goats' or 'butterflies,"' said Bernaola, 6-foot-2 inches (188 centimeters) in white mesh sequined wings and a skirt and top made of light blue stuffed animal fur with matching headband and pipe cleaner antennae.

"I prefer to be a butterfly," the 16-year-old said. "This is a chance to show the public that we are people, too."

But not everyone marching on Saturday was comfortable with coming too far out in the open in one of Latin America's more conservative, predominantly Roman Catholic capitals. Unlike in Paris, where the mayor led an estimated 500,000 marchers on the same day, just a few hundred showed up for Lima's parade.

Holding a placard that read "we want to be visible, but intolerance suppresses us," one woman joined several dozen others in Spiderman and feathered party masks that covered their faces down to the mouth.

"I am sure that if I marched without this mask, come Monday I would show up for work without a job," said Rosa, 33, who declined to give her last name for fear of persecution.

Marching to pop tunes of Madonna and Cher, some carried banners calling for constitutional protection of Peru's gays.

"It's noticeable that lots of people in the parade are scared and concerned," said Larry LaFontain, a professor of Puerto Rican and Caribbean Studies at Rutgers University in the United States. "I have friends who are not openly gay and are uncomfortable with being here."

LaFountain said he was surprised that several hundred did show up for the march.