gayest parade ever

[spoonless]

2.4 million people marched in Brazil's recent gay pride parade... a new world record:


CNN reports

"The theme of this year's event was to halt hate crimes against gays in the nation of more than 185 million people. But in typical Brazilian style, participants turned a somber topic into a huge street party, dancing, drinking beer and kissing as they marched several kilometers."

Now if the US can step up to the challenge of being as tolerant and open-minded as our Brazillian comrades, maybe the rest of the world will follow.

[Update: scratch that, it seems that Brazil is not a good role model for us, at least in terms of racism. thanks to kosherpickle for pointing this out.]

Comments

[kosherpickle.livejournal.com]

Now if the US can step up to the challenge of being as tolerant and open-minded as our Brazillian comrades, maybe the rest of the world will follow.

On the topic of sexuality, this is highly arguable. On the topic of racism, this is simply laughable.

[spoonless.livejournal.com]

Is Brazil even more racist than us? I really should follow the news more, but it seems that the US has been in a pretty anti-immigrant phase lately (if that counts as racism--I'll admit that there are other reasons we might be anti-immigrant).

[kosherpickle.livejournal.com]

I'm of the opinion that the USA's attitude toward immigration isn't race but more of an issue of security and just sheer numbers. If the border was a little more secure (hate to bring up the specter of terrorism, but what an opportunity for enterprising people to get into the country) and immigration occurred at a modest pace, then things would probably be okay.

I will concede that if this issue were Canadian as opposed to Mexican, the sheer number thing might not be as apparent. I mean, everyone's used to seeing hordes of white people in any part of the country. Latinos are a little more noticeable just because a fair number of people aren't used to their presence. I don't think that's necessarily a racist attitude; it's a signal that immigration and immersion are most easily dealt with over a long period of time.

[spoonless.livejournal.com]

Nevermind, I did a couple searches on Brazillian racism and I see what you mean.

[gustavolacerda.livejournal.com]

I would say that Brazil is a very bad role model AFA tolerance of homosexuality goes.

While not as puritanical as Americans on superficial things (e.g. showing skin is fine), most Brazilians are very backward-minded when it comes to "family values". The majority of straight men avoid gay men like the plague.

AFA racism goes, it's a very different situation than in the US. There are no sharp boundaries between black and white people, very little race-based cliquishness, no noticeable language differences between the races... However, Brazilian are *very* class-conscious (and class-bigots, I might add), and race is a strong indicator of class. So it's hard to tease apart how much racism is "pure racism" and how much is just classism.

Like in Europe, in Brazil it's not hard to find individuals who hold openly racist views. Americans, OTOH, tend to find hints of racism extremely uncomfortable and embarassing.

[gustavolacerda.livejournal.com]

This articulates and explores my initial thoughts quite well.