Headlines: Remembering Gay Pride 2008

June 30, 2008 in Alabama, Humor, International, LGBT, News & Opinion, Politics & Government, Pop Culture, Religion, Style
Tags: Alabama, bisexual, Brno, Bulgaria, California, Chicago, Cuba, Czech Republic, Gay, gay marriage, gay pride, Havana, Huntsville, India, Israel, Jerusalem, lesbian, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, New Dehli, New York, Paris, Russia, San Francisco, Sofia, transgender

Brno, Czech Republic: At least 20 people were injured when the Czech Republic’s first ever Gay Pride parade was attacked by rightwing extremists armed with tear gas even before the event was due to begin in the city of Brno.

Havana, Cuba: Cuba’s first gay pride parade was abruptly cancelled yesterday, moments before it was to begin.

The unofficial march, organised with Florida’s Unity Coalition, was not sanctioned by Cuba’s National Centre for Sex Education, which is headed by Mariela Castro, the daughter of President Raul Castro.

Huntsville, Alabama: The last Gay Pride event in Huntsville was a picnic in Maple Hill Cemetery 12 years ago that drew 450 people. The most recent one – a rally Saturday afternoon sponsored by the North Alabama Pride Coalition in Big Spring International Park – attracted only a couple of dozen people, no protesters and no television cameras.

Jerusalem, Israel: Despite a backdrop of counterprotests and memories of the violence of years past, rainbow-colored flags and a crowd of a few thousand people made their way through the central streets of Jerusalem on Thursday as the annual Gay Pride Parade went off without a hitch.

Moscow, Russia: Gay Russians waving placards and rainbow flags demonstrated in central Moscow on Sunday in defiance of an official ban on gay pride events and abuse from far-right opponents.

New Dehli, India: Men wore sparkling saris, women wore rainbow boas and hundreds of people chanted for gay rights in three Indian cities Sunday in the largest display of gay pride in the deeply conservative country where homosexual acts are illegal.

San Francisco, California: A lesbian motorcycle group dressed in bridal veils, wedding gowns and leather lent a matrimonial touch to San Francisco’s gay pride parade Sunday as revelers celebrated their newfound freedom to marry.

Sofia, Bulgaria: Bulgarian police arrested 60 people Saturday opposed to Bulgaria’s first gay pride march after they tried to storm the small group of about 100 marchers in the capital Sofia, the interior ministry said.