Sequins and rainbows wake up the streets of Paris where the refrain of "Running up that Hill" by Kate Bush, fiery batucadas and electro rhythms mix.
The pride march seems endless from the Golden Gate where the big start sounds for a little over 5 km of festive and combative wandering to the Place de la République.
It is 2:30 p.m. on this rainy Saturday.
Engines off, sound systems blaring, the eighty floats wait their turn to let the crowd, emboldened by the celebration, pass.
Inter-LGBT, which brings together around sixty associations, was expecting 500,000 people.
We get on the bus of the town hall of Paris whose open roof reveals some known faces.
But not that, the tank "is not VIP", it is open to all employees of the city who wish.
T-shirt in LGBTQIA + colors, with the logo "Paris is proud", the first deputy mayor of Paris Emmanuel Grégoire passes a head with the family, while Jean-Luc Romero, deputy in charge of the fight against discrimination tries ubiquity so as not to miss Solidays and get to the Longchamp racecourse in time to join Anne Hidalgo.
Like every year, the city of Paris rolls with the Inter LGBT associations to continue the fight against discrimination.
Paris (XII), this Saturday.
Miss trans France 2021, the activist Louïs (right) was invited on the float of the town hall of Paris for the pride march.
This march is the first life-size since the restrictive version of 2021 and the cancellation of 2020 due to the health crisis.
Below the municipal bus where some employees of the city of Paris are dancing with Louïz, miss trans France 2021, the party is in full swing.
The rain did not discourage anyone.
Trans, drags, LGBT refugees, gay and lesbian couples but also many heterosexual couples dance to the thundering rhythms that escape from the sound system.
“We are what we want, we no longer need to define ourselves or belong to this or that box to come and defend the freedoms of all.
On the other hand, to those who think that everything is fine in France on the question of sexual freedom and discrimination, we must tell them that the party is a fight, that our rights can be called into question at any time!
shouts Amalia, 30 years old, who came from Normandy to walk this Saturday with her friends.
Gesturing twenties, Jordan and Ella exchange their glitter.
Rainbow cape and silver boxer, flowers in the hair and high-cut leotard, the style is studied: “We are here to have fun and show that we exist in joy, but we are not at the carnival.
Pride is above all a demonstration.
We know that nothing is taken for granted, for anyone.
France is shocked by the revocation of the right to abortion in the United States but if we are not vigilant, we take the risk that one day this will also be the case in France.
Freedoms are on the decline everywhere.
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Paris (XII), this Saturday.
The Pride march started from the Porte Dorée at the start of the afternoon and reached Place de la République at the end of the day.
Precisely, the tank of the town hall of Paris wants to be the symbol of an inclusiveness acquired through struggles and proactive public policies.
400,000 euros from the city's budget are devoted to the fight against LGBT discrimination, "plus the associations that we finance directly, or even the six apartments for LGBT refugee victims in their community", adds Jean-Luc Romero.
“The city has had its float in the Pride march for five years, Paris is an inclusive city, a city for everyone, a capital of LGBT freedoms.
Seventy countries condemn homosexuality, including some close to us.
We are lucky to have equality today, PMA, marriage for all, laws that condemn discrimination but we can go back very quickly, look at the United States.
Equality is a permanent fight”, justifies the elected official for whom the march is also a “great celebration of diversity”.
At the end of May, the Pride of the suburbs had gathered more than 5,000 people in Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis) to defend more particularly the rights of LGBTQI + people residing in working-class neighborhoods.
