I’m pleased to report that the 5th Moscow Pride went extremely well. Waiting in the headquarters, before the Pride, with over 30 Russian, Belorussian, and International activists, everyone was nervous. Looking at the history of the Pride, and the 40 people arrested last year, those participating were fearing the worst, and hoping for the best.
What helped this year was the use of disinformation, which kept the police and skinheads far away from the real action. As the opposition gathered in front of city hall, gay pride activists marched in a different part of the city.
When we got the call the Pride was to begin, everyone quickly went in small groups to the designated area. As soon as activists arrived, the pride began. In Russian, there were shouts of “Russia without homophobes” and “Rights for gays,” while participants grabbed hold of the 20m flag, hand-sewn and brought in from Belorussia.
Moscow Pride 2010, photograph by Charles Meacham
As quickly as it started, everything evaporated. The flag was folded up, and activists dashed in different directions. Police hadn’t arrived yet, but everyone knew they were coming. Only a few minutes after people scattered, and a police van pulled up. But, there was no one to arrest.
Much later, those who participated in the Pride began to gather to celebrate today’s victory. Let’s just say everyone was quite happy, especially proving the Mayor wrong who said no gay pride could take place in Moscow …
Late on the evening of May 5, we’ll be arriving in Vilnius, Lithuania, to document the 2010 Baltic Pride Festival. Baltic pride will be the first of about 30 world pride parades we will be photographing during just over a year of travel. We’ll be writing more about LGBT rights in Lithuania, and details about the march, as we get closer to its’ date.
A picture of Vilnius (from wikimedia)
However, before we arrive there is still much to take care. We are both currently passport-less … we’ve had to send them away with our visa applications in order to obtain entry to Belarus (our 2nd stop). Thankfully most of the other places we’ll be visiting allow entry for 30 days without visas.
Booking tickets, quitting jobs, and selling household items are also things that must be done, and sooner rather than later. We are getting rid of our apartment when we leave Taiwan, so everything we are not bringing with us must go. It is a little difficult to part with some things, Chad always looks especially miserable when discussing plans to sell his motorcycle. Yet, I think in the end we both feel so extremely fortunate to have this opportunity … an amazing opportunity to travel around the globe documenting a year’s worth of pride, any hassle we must deal with now is well worth it. At least I keep telling myself that as I sort through ever growing piles of collected junk … !
Completely exhausted, Chad returned from photographing Sydney’s Mardi Gras Activities on Tuesday (March 2).
He’d spent about a week there photographing different Mardi Gras events, including the main events of Parade Day and Harbour Day ’10. On our main project website, we’ve upload the top pictures into a “Sydney Pride Gallery“. Soon, we’ll be uploading some more to Flickr.
Chad will also be uploading a blog entry later in the week further describing his experiences photographing Mardi Gras.
First off, we’d like to say thank you to Jason Dixon and Jeff McBride, members of the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras team. They have both helped us in getting the permits and passes needed to photograph the events in Sydney. We greatly appreciate their help, since Mardi Gras 2010 is just around the corner.
Unfortunately, while I won’t be able to go with Chad to Sydney, he will be arriving on Feb. 20 and staying for eight days. The first main Mardi Gras event Chad will be photographing is Fair day on Feb. 21, held at Victoria Park, so keep an eye out for him if you plan to be there.
Also, thanks to everyone who has shown support for the *New* 2010 Pride Parade Calendar. If you haven’t had the chance to take a look, it’s pretty fascinating as it includes video clips of pride parades from all over the world.
To help promote the site, we also welcome ad banner swaps on the site, so email us if you would like to exchange LGBT/pride-related link banners!
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Walk With Pride (WWP) is a project to photograph and document gay pride parades around the globe. Our aim is to promote pride, empathy, and understanding on an international level, while highlighting the similarities and differences in gay rights and gay culture around the world.
The Boy Scouts of America will continue to disavow gay troop leaders, but the national council of the most high-profile youth group in the U.S. could change the tone and history of its extremely controversial anti-gay policies on Thursday by voting to allow openly gay scouts to join the organization. In a secret vote today, "more than 1,400 volunteer le […]
The Boy Scouts of America voted Thursday to approve the admission of openly gay youth members but left in place a ban on homosexual adult scout leaders, raising the prospect of gay scouts having to leave the group when they become adults.
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