LGBT+ Pride Parade highlights aging amid celebration and reflection
With thousands of participants, São Paulo’s LGBT+ Pride Parade placed the aging LGBTQIA+ population at the center of the celebration and public debate for the first time in its 29-year history. On a completely packed Paulista Avenue, organizers estimated a crowd of 4 million people and featured 17 sound trucks.
The theme was welcomed by activist Norivaldo Júnior, a member of the National Council for the Rights of the Elderly under the Ministry of Human Rights and Citizenship, who attended the event with his husband, advertising executive Rodrigo Souza.
“When the parade’s board announced aging as the theme, it brought great joy to us on the council. The LGBT community suffered immense loss during the 1980s and lost many of its reference points. Today, we are able—or at least trying—to ensure that this generation experiences a better old age than mine,” said Norivaldo Júnior, 62, married to Rodrigo Souza, 27 years younger.
“Unfortunately, we have a generation growing up very concerned with body image, and that pushes us back into the closet because they can’t see us—older people—as part of the movement. In a way, they don’t accept that they’ll one day reach my age of 62. It makes us invisible again and forces us to relive many of the struggles we faced in our youth—being kicked out of our homes, not being accepted at school, struggling to find work. When you reach old age—LGBT old age—you go through that whole cycle again. That’s why it’s so important that this year’s parade is centered on aging,” he added.
To the sound of electronic music and the beating of fans carried by most of the participants, the parade brought together friends, couples of all ages, and families in a festive atmosphere. One of the first groups to march was that of families of transgender children—Trans Children and Adolescents Exist—which has participated in the event for the past four years. Thamirys Nunes, 35, president of the NGO Minha Criança Trans (My Trans Child), is the mother of a 10-year-old trans child and an activist for the rights of children and youth.
“We are here on the streets to say that we are families, just like any other families. And we will always be here fighting for our trans children and adolescents because, if they need a future, that future begins with recognition,” she said.
Making his debut at the event, Argentine German Rocha, also dressed for the occasion, paraded cheerfully. In his senior years, he believes it’s important to experience São Paulo and support the fight for rights beyond his hometown of Buenos Aires, from where he came with his husband and a friend to join the parade.
“We came to participate in the parade to show that in Argentina, Brazil, and many other places, we share the same ideology: to uphold our rights and achievements, and to pursue more revolution and struggle. Latin America will not be defeated,” he declared.
