A tide of rainbow flags swept Saturday in the streets of Saint-Denis, where several thousand people marched under the sun for the third edition of the "pride march of the suburbs", AFP journalists found.
To the sound of a fanfare and Brazilian percussion, the participants of this rally, organized to defend the rights of LGBTQI+ people residing in working-class neighborhoods, chanted slogans for medically assisted procreation (ART) generalized to all as well as against the government, patriarchy or colonialism.
Behind his sunglasses, Evan Abon, 23, says it's important for him to participate in Pride "to pay tribute to all those who fought for us and precisely to celebrate the fact that we have so many rights."
The young man, who lives in Colombes, slim figure, slender and piercing the nose, laments that on a daily basis "there are some things that I do not allow myself to do, such as dressing extravagantly".
«
I'm not totally myself and I don't feel 'safe' in some places and I try to avoid them," he says.
For other activists, there is "a real lack of visibility for queer people of color. Pride in the suburbs focuses on that and that's good," says Bonita Kouevi, a 20-year-old student, with the inscription "queer" upside down on her forehead, afro hairstyle and sleeves in the colors of the rainbow flag.
«
In the suburbs, it is more complicated because there is less access to help, care, listening. (...) In Paris there are many associations and shelters. Queers are not just in capital cities," she continues.
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Elsewhere in the procession, it is the first pride of Marcelino Meduse, a 26-year-old Reunionese, who has lived in Saint-Denis for nearly a year.
«
There were visibility marches in Reunion Island but I was never there when they took place. This Pride is the most consistent with my career and my experience, "says the young man, surrounded by two friends.
Faced with the demands of the LGBTQI + community, the young man invites the government to "get to work".