RECENT ENTRIES |
- • Flooding in Britain - 02.14
- • Sochi 2014 Olympics: Reaching the podium - 02.13
- • The 2014 Westminster Dog Show - 02.10
- • 2014 Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony in Soch - 02.07

Translate into:
(Hint: Use 'j' and 'k' keys to move up and down)
July 8, 2011 |
LGBT pride parades
Around the world, the LGBT community celebrates in environments ranging from welcoming to tolerant to violently hostile. Many cities stage gay pride parades on or around June 28, the anniversary of New York's Stonewall Inn uprising in 1969 -- what many consider the beginning of the gay rights movement. New York enjoyed its parade this year on June 26, a celebration given added spirit with the legalization of gay marriage in New York state two days earlier. Some communities in the world still meet with resistance, with activists assaulted and arrested in Russian cities, and an Indian health minister describing homosexuality as a "disease" three days after the New Delhi pride parade on July 2. Collected here are photographs of people celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered pride around the world.
The Big Picture offers special thanks to Charles Meacham for making his photographs available. -- Lane Turner (43 photos total)

An activist puts a rainbow flag on top of the figure of a Soviet soldier at the base of the Soviet Army monument during the fourth Sofia Pride annual parade in Sofia June 18, 2011. The figures in the monument were painted earlier by an unknown artist to resemble comic book heroes and characters from popular culture, among them Santa Claus, Superman and Ronald McDonald. (Stoyan Nenov/Reuters) #

Participants pause during the Rainbow Pride Parade in Bratislava June 4, 2011. Rainbow Pride Bratislava 2011 is a Slovak march to draw attention to the human rights of non-heterosexual people, their social and political equalization and to celebrate the second year of the LGBT pride in Slovakia. (Radovan Stoklasa/Reuters) #

Gay rights activists dance during the gay pride parade in downtown Budapest on June 18, 2011. Gay pride rallies were held in several Central and Eastern European capitals and hundreds of police were on duty to protect the marchers following calls by extremist groups to stop the demonstrations. (Bela Szandelszky/AP) #

Participants embrace each other as they take part in the gay pride march in Zagreb on June 18, 2011 after the United Nations issued its first condemnation of discrimination against gays, lesbians and transgender people in a cautiously worded declaration hailed by supporters as a historic moment. (AP) #

Participants perform with a bus made of cardboard that says "avenue revolution, dignity and freedom" during the annual gay pride parade in Lima July 2, 2011. The march, inaugurated by Lima's Mayor Susana Villaran, highlights issues of the gay, lesbian and transgender community. (Mariana Bazo/Reuters) #

Guatemalan army soldiers march through the capitol city's main square during a gay pride celebration on June 25, 2011 in Guatemala City. Guatemala is one of Central America's most conservative countries, and the gay community has suffered a long history of discrimination. (John Moore/Getty Images) #

A reveler attends the gay pride parade in New Delhi on July 2, 2011. Indian gay rights activists were outraged by Indian Health Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who said, "Men having sex with men is unnatural and not good for India. It is a disease which has come from other countries," while addressing a national convention on HIV/AIDS in New Delhi on July 4. (Prakash Singh/AFP/Getty Images) #
More links and information
The 'Walk With Pride' Project - walkwithpridenow.com
Indian health minister under fire for homosexuality remarks - Guardian.co.uk, 7/5
Gay Pride - Wikipedia entry