by Rex Wockner
International News Briefs
Step aside, United States, Toronto and Sydney. Your gay parades are not even close to the biggest.
Organizers and media reported that the 14th annual gay pride parade in Sao Paulo, Brazil, attracted 3 million people June 6. And it even had a political theme: "Vote against homophobia: Defend citizenship" in the October presidential and congressional elections.
The cost of the massive event was paid by the federal, state and city governments, the state-run oil company Petrobras and the government bank Caixa Economica Federal.
In the lead-up to Pride, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva issued a decree establishing a National Day Against Homophobia each year on May 17.
"The decree is the governmental recognition that homophobia exists in Brazil and that concrete actions are needed to reduce or eliminate prejudice, discrimination and stigma against the LGBT community," said Toni Reis, president of the Brazilian Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans Association, or ABGLT.
"We hope that Brazil's example will be followed by the 75 countries where homosexuality is a crime and in the seven countries where the death penalty exists for homosexuals," he added.
The decree was published in the Official Gazette on June 7 and took immediate effect.
