Brazil: Rio's Pride Parade Isn't What It Should Be, But There's Some Value In Fun

By Roberta Rocinante

So I went to Rio’s pride parade. This was very hard to write. In fact, it took me more than a week, just because my feelings on pride parades in general are very negative most of the time. So much that most times, I try to convince myself to go, and then I try to convince myself not to go, but I always end up going. Last year, it was because I was lonely and I wanted to be around others. This year was due to The Needle.

Unlike the U.S., pride parades in Brazil don’t happen exclusively in June. The one in São Paulo does, and some other places as well, but the one in Rio happens in late November, and it’s been like this for thirty years. 

The first pride parade was just a small march that happened after the 17^th ILGA conference. The next year there was a bigger demonstration in São Paulo, and things went from there. This year’s parade was the 30^th anniversary.

Unlike in the US with the Stonewall Riots, here in Brazil, the pride parades started out of overall dissatisfaction with the government and society’s dislike over LGBTQ people, and not out of the camel's back finally breaking because of all the abuse. But we only have the parades here because Marsha P. Johnson decided to act and show everyone that we can’t get our rights peacefully.

Which is where some of my distaste for pride parades come, especially with how we do them in Brazil, and how they’ve been for a while.

Still, here we are, decades after the Stonewall riots and the first pride parade in Rio. It was easy to see that this year’s was big. And I mean really big. The parade was set where it usually is, Copacabana – which is a neighborhood not just a beach – and I got there via subway. I could see that the whole neighborhood was already chock full of people. You had the people living there doing their thing, not really bothering anyone. It was Sunday; people were either at bars drinking and getting ready to see a football game, or they were at home with their families. 

There were only a few people on the beach I noticed, maybe cause they knew of the parade.

And you had the people that came to the parade. One of the things I did was ask people why they were there. I didn’t tell them I was working for a news site, but I did tell them it was for a blog, and if you think about it, isn’t a news site just a blog run by journalists? At least I’m more ethical than the New York Times. Early on, the responses I got were varied. “Because I deserve to be here.”, “I’m gay/lesbian/trans/bi/pan/because I like to kiss men in the mouth.”, “I never went and I always wanted to.”. Things that I expected. Not the reason why I went or started going, but I get it. I respect it.

As I walked along the parade before it officially started, I saw a few politicians – city council members – selling their bread, as I like to say. They were doing the usual promises and that big talk they all do about “Being in the city council to make the voice of the LGBTQ population be heard! To be there for the minorities!” It’s all talk. Most leftist politicians in Rio are ready to throw us to the wolves when it comes to their ambitions. It’s not all of them of course, but most. Still, they come to the parade to try and get some votes next election season. To be honest, at least they do more than most leftists and try and to engage with a minority, even if it’s just for votes.

Still, that’s only part of the reality of the parade here. I got to it only a few minutes before it started, so the organizers made it pretty clear. One thing you need to know about how Brazilians do these things is that we love a party, and the pride parade is a huge one.

The parade organizers had organized several singers and bands to make shows during the parade, all doing it while ridding trucks we call Trio Elétrico. Imagine a mixture between a moving company’s truck and a small show, that’s it. And those were everywhere in the parade, each with different artists coming and going as they started and ended their shows. The artists were popular acts, such as singer Daniela Mercury (who’s bisexual, by the way) and more local ones like drag queens. It’s a huge party, a fun party. Not what I think we should be doing, but I can respect that.

In Brazil there’s a saying that goes “Laugh to not cry.”. You would rather make fun of the situation than to fall into despair - into the sadness of it all - and we use this for everything here.

 Transport system doesn’t work and you have to go on a four hour trip back and forth from work every day? Make a joke about it.