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1st March and Festival Pride Azores
Azores Islands, Portugal
september 3, 2012
More then 2000 people participated in the first-ever Pride March september 1st 2012 and Festival Pride Azores. " A tremendous success," says Terry Costa, the president of the only LGBT organization on the Atlantic islands. The festival that happened between August 28th and September 2nd included a Conference on the issues that had participation from NYC Pride executive Chris Frederick, Portugal´s oldest activist António Serzedelo and Azores activist on equality Judite Fernandes, as well as politicians and leaders of organizations, also included showcase of short films, gapoetry readings, and a party showcasing artists after the March. The events happend at te Public Library and an artsy bar galery called Arco 8. The main event was the March and Festival at Portas do Mar, a fairly new area of Azores largest city of Ponta Delgada that is already used to dock some of the worlds major cruises that pass by the picturesque island of São Miguel.
The March was an incredible success with over 150 official participants walking the streets of the city but with over 2000 spectators that many joined in or started a paralel march in support, on the sidewalks. "It was incredible to see this happen" adds Costa. "Because I had a megaphone, a lady approached me to ask which saint was the march about." Azores is very rooted on catholicism and rarely you see people marching on the streets outside of religious festivals. "When I answered to her that it had nothing to do with a saint but it was all about human rights for all citizens including LGBT, she called her friend that was sitting at a café, grabbed her purse and joined right in. A moment that I will never forget, and makes all the hard work, all the fights against many that pressed for the event not to happen, all worth it."
The organization Pride Azores will now continue it´s work on all 9 islands of the arquipélago, an autonomous region of Portugal, from workshops in schools, libraries and marking other special dates throughout the year supporting the over 20,000 citizens that are mostly in the closet. Azores has a population of approximately 250,000 but there are many more azoreans living around the world including across Europe and the areas of Toronto, Canada and California,USA. www.prideazores.com
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