Fifty-six years after the uprising that gave birth to the modern LGBTQI+ rights movement, gender and sexuality have become fiercely contested issues. So this year, even when they had a festive tone, Pride events were an act of defiance. Where they found a friendly environment, they expressed solidarity with those who couldn’t safely make themselves visible.

Progress and backlash

The global movement for LGBTQI+ rights has achieved profound changes in attitudes, laws and institutions – at an astonishing pace. Between the second half of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st, numerous countries decriminalised same-sex relations – first in Europe and the Americas and then in other global regions, peaking in the 1990s and with a steady trickle since.

Earlier this year, Dominica and Namibia became the latest to decriminalise. But even today, over 60 countries and territories – most in Africa, followed by Asia and the Middle East – criminalise private, consensual same-sex sexual activity, particularly between men.

Decriminalisation has been followed by the recognition of other rights. These include same-sex marriage, now legal in 37 countries – with Greece and Thailand the latest to join them this year. Progress has been fast: the first country to recognise equal marriage rights, the Netherlands, did so in 2001, meaning that all this change has come in less than a quarter of a century.

But gains have been met with brutal backlash. While activism continues to win victories, strong regressive trends are in danger of overshadowing the gains and making the situation for LGBTQI+ people much worse in many countries, particularly in Commonwealth Africa and parts of Europe and the USA.

But rather than bullying them into silence, the anti-rights response is causing activists to push harder, through legal advocacy, public campaigning, mutual support, solidarity and protest. In the face of attempts to deny LGBTQI+ people the right to exist in public, LGBTQI+ movements are responding by defiantly asserting their visibility – particularly during the peak Pride season, when people take to the streets in city after city in echo of the act of defiance that started it all.

Pride and resistance in the Americas

In the USA, Pride Month came just after Florida ratified a law banning gender ‘indoctrination’ in schools and the Texas Supreme Court upheld a ban on gender affirmation surgery for minors, with court battles raging in other states over transgender healthcare.

As large crowds took to the streets to defend rights, safety was a top concern, as it has been since 2016, when an attack on a gay nightclub in Orlando left 49 people dead. Prior to this year’s Pride events, US authorities warned of potential terrorist attacks and renewed their security alert for US citizens abroad.

Still, some 25,000 marchers and over two million spectators celebrated Pride Month in New York on 29 June under the banner ‘Reflect.Empower.Unite’. There was a moment of violence when pro-Palestinian protesters blocked the parade; 22 people were arrested. Major Pride marches were held in other big cities across the USA, including Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco, while others will hold theirs later in the year – such as Atlanta, where it’s scheduled to coincide with National Coming Out Day on 11 October.

In the Caribbean, Guyana and Jamaica held modest Pride events in a context marked by the persistence of criminalising colonial-era laws. Following breakthroughs in Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados and St Kitts and Nevis in 2022, and more recently in Dominica, Guyana and Jamaica are among the five English-speaking Caribbean states that still criminalise same-sex relations.

Pride took place across Latin America, often in several cities in each country. From Chile to Mexico, LGBTQI+ people mobilised in late June in celebration and defiance. Several countries in the region recognise same-sex marriage and transgender rights, but discrimination and violence against LGBTQI+ people remain a problem. In Brazil, for example, 230 LGBTQI+ people were killed in 2023, and although there are no reliable figures, Mexico is likely not far behind.

In Argentina, where Pride takes place in November, June saw the Ninth Plurinational March against Transvesticides, Transfemicides and Transhomicides in the capital, Buenos Aires. And in Uruguay, where the annual ‘Diversity March’ is due in September, a march was also held in late June, focusing on the hatred that routinely claims the lives of so many trans people.

Pride in Central America particularly focused on the anti-rights backlash, particularly targeted at trans people. People mobilised in Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama. The only silent streets were once again in Nicaragua, under siege by a dictatorship that has dismantled civil society and intimidated its people. As before, the Nicaraguan diaspora marched alongside Costa Rican activists in San José, the capital of the neighbouring country.

It wasn’t always a walk in the park: in Guatemala City, people marched in defiance of legal attempts to ban the event and a Constitutional Court order requiring the National Civil Police to ensure it was carried out in accordance with ‘good customs’. And in Chile, a group of at least five hooded men physically assaulted Pride marchers in the capital, Santiago. Something similar happened in 2023.

São Paulo, Brazil, was the epicentre of the world’s largest Pride festival, with more than three million gathering on 2 June, while an additional million marched in Mexico City’s 46th annual Pride a few weeks later. People marched in all the countries in the Andean region – Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia and Peru. In Peru, they mobilised under slogans such as ‘Nothing to cure’ and ‘Diversity is not a disease’, referring to the recent initiative, later withdrawn in response to criticism, that catalogued some gender identities, including transsexuality, as ‘mental illnesses’.

In Venezuela, a country that would shortly after hold an election that could determine its democratic fate, Pride provided a welcome opportunity to make a politically irreproachable demand for respect for human rights.

Europe’s patchwork of pride and prejudice

As the overall influence of far-right forces continues to grow, LGBTQI+ people and allies took to the streets of major European cities to defend their ground: in Madrid, Spain, for instance, a million people marched under the motto ‘Education, Rights and Peace: Pride that Transforms’. In Berlin, Germany, their banner read ‘Only strong together – for democracy and diversity’.

Some had victories to celebrate – Germany for instance has recently passed a law to allow transgender people to change legal gender to reflect their identity, and in Greece same-sex marriage has been legal since February. But as in Latin America, changes in laws didn’t necessarily make life safer, particularly for trans people, as reflected in continuing attacks.

The message at this year’s EuroPride, held in Thessaloniki, and Athens Pride in Greece’s capital, was ‘Preserve, Progress, Prosper’. But only a heavy police presence and detentions of counter-protesters prevented anti-rights violence. It was a similar story in Germany’s Leipzig.

In several central and eastern European countries, Pride returned with a vengeance. In Poland’s capital, Warsaw, it was attended by around 20,000 people, including, for the first time, two members of the government. In 2023, a coalition government that includes progressive parties came to power following eight years of rule by the right-wing Law and Justice party, which led a vocal campaign against so-called ‘LGBT ideology’. This year’s Pride carried the banner ‘The time for equality is now’. Its organisers put forward 12 demands, including strengthening legal protection against hate speech and hate crimes and introducing full marriage equality. ILGA-Europe had just ranked Poland, for the fifth year in a row, as the European Union’s (EU) worst country for LGBTQI+ people.

In Hungary’s capital, Budapest, thousands took to the streets in protest after yet another year of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán’s anti-LGBTQI+ policies – but for the first time in many years, they were hopeful that the tide might turn soon. And in nearby Bucharest, Romania’s capital, 27,000 people took part in the country’s largest ever Pride event under the banner ‘We are ready’ – a direct response to the prime minister’s recent claim that the country wasn’t ready to recognise more rights for same-sex couples.

Romania is one of the EU’s most restrictive countries for LGBTQI+ rights. A 2021 survey found that only 43 per cent of Romanians supported same-sex marriage. In 2022, the Senate passed several laws banning ‘gay propaganda’ in schools and the discussion of homosexuality and gender identity in public spaces. In 2023, the state rejected a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights that said it was violating the rights of same-sex couples by refusing to legally recognise their unions. Resistance to change comes from the Orthodox Church, which over 85 per cent of Romanians belong to. This was reflected in a counter-protest, the ‘March of Normality’, on the same day as Pride.

Bulgaria, another EU member that continues to deny LGBTQI+ rights in defiance of European Court rulings, saw the 17th edition of its Sofia Pride march, held under the mottoes ‘Let’s love a little more’ and ‘Bulgaria is our home, too’. The same day right-wing groups held a ‘March for the Family’ with over 10,000 participants.

Several Pride marches took place elsewhere in the Balkans, including in Sarajevo, the scene of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s fifth Pride March. Held under the slogan ‘I love: no fear in living freely’, it focused on violence against LGBTQI+ people. Skopje, North Macedonia’s capital, also celebrated Pride, with the motto ‘Spectacularly disobedient’. But on the same day, a small counter-protest, self-identified as the third ‘True Parade of Pride’, was held in Bitola, the country’s third largest city. Its participants, who identified as members of the Macedonian Orthodox Church, marched carrying the image of Jesus Christ, claiming to defend the rights of children and families.

While Pride was widely celebrated in many cities across Europe, this wasn’t the case in Russia, which has long banned Pride parades and criminalised so-called ‘gay propaganda’. In 2023, the Russian Supreme Court declared the ‘international LGBT movement’ to be extremist, which means anyone involved could face up to 12 years in prison. In March, two bar workers became the first people charged under this law.

Meanwhile, war-torn Ukraine celebrated its first Pride since Russia’s full-scale invasion began in 2022. Marchers gathered in Kyiv chanting ‘glory to the heroes’, but the gathering was quickly broken up by police due to security threats from anti-LGBTQI+ groups.

Activists also faced an uphill battle in Turkey, where they defied bans by holding decentralised events, changing march routes and, when necessary, replacing marches with other creative tactics, including hanging banners in highly visible public spaces. In Istanbul, where past editions of Pride attracted up to 100,000 people, district governors banned two planned events. Despite this, hundreds gathered and were able to march along a different route for around 10 minutes before police caught up with them, dispersed them and arrested 11 people, including three minors.

The regressive wave is strong in Georgia. In Tbilisi, where violent attacks by far-right counter-protesters forced the cancellation of the 2023 event, organisers cancelled all physical events this year. The government has followed Russia’s lead in passing a law that extends state interference in civil society groups receiving international funding and announcing an anti-’gay propaganda’ law. Tbilisi Pride has suffered attacks and cancellations for several years in a row due to the authorities’ failure to guarantee security. This began when people first marched on 17 May 2013 and were attacked by a mob that included members of the clergy; the following year, the Georgian Orthodox Church declared 17 May as Family Purity Day, a holiday that has been officially observed since.

Bright spots in Asia and Oceania

Asia, where so many people live under authoritarian regimes with severely restricted civic spaces, also offered recent good news. This June, the Thai parliament passed the Marriage Equality Act, making Thailand Southeast Asia’s first country, and only Asia’s third, to recognise equal rights for same-sex couples, including inheritance, adoption and healthcare rights. This was joyfully celebrated at the Bangkok Pride Parade that kicked off 2024 Pride Month on 1 June. Over 200,000 people reportedly participated, including then Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, the first Thai prime minister to do so.

The ‘largest gay party in Australia’, Sydney Mardi Gras, was celebrated in the second half of February, while Taiwan Pride – Asia’s largest Pride event, attracting LGBTQI+ people from multiple neighbouring countries including China, Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore – will be held in late October.

Tokyo Rainbow Pride, a three-day event marking Pride’s 30th anniversary in Japan, was held in late April, with an overall attendance of 270,000, and 15,000 taking part in the parade. This was remarkable given the parade’s classification as a protest march, which requires strict adherence to traffic rules and security regulations and imposes limitations on numbers. Demands put forward during these days of heightened visibility centred on marriage equality and the establishment of comprehensive legal protections against discrimination.

June saw at least 70,000 people march on the streets of Quezon City, where the Philippines’ – and Asia’s – first Pride march was held 30 years ago. Anticipating a huge turnout, organisers held two separate marches that eventually converged: the ‘Love’ march, including Quezon City government officials and workplace diversity and business representatives, and the ‘Fight’ march, including human rights groups and students. Several more Pride marches were held in different parts of the country. Marchers renewed calls for the Philippines to pass the SOGIE (sexual orientation, gender, identity and expression) Equality Bill, which has languished in Congress for over two decades.

In Singapore, thousands gathered on 29 June for the 16th edition of the Pink Dot event. Hundreds of participants addressed personal messages to the new prime minister expressing their hopes and concerns, and the event culminated in a lighting-up of the word ‘equality’, a call for national leaders to address discrimination against LGBTQI+ Singaporeans. Pink Dot SG, the organisation in charge of the event, backed these demands by presenting new research highlighting continuing challenges faced by LGBTQI+ people even after criminalising provisions were struck down in 2022.

Africa’s oasis of Pride

Homosexuality remains criminalised in 30 of Africa’s 54 countries, and anti-LGBTQI+ sentiment is gaining momentum in many countries. Draconian anti-LGBTQI+ laws have been passed in Ghana and Uganda, targeting same-sex relations and advocacy for LGBTQI+ rights. Despite legal challenges, Malawi recently upheld the criminalisation of same-sex acts between consenting adults. Several others are considering restrictive measures.

A common narrative is that homosexuality is ‘un-African’ and was imposed by western states, but the opposite is true – all former British colonies inherited identical criminal provisions from the colonial power. The only country to buck the regional trend recently was Namibia, whose High Court overturned criminalisation in June.

As expected, in contexts where being visibly out can bring a violent reaction, there were no public celebrations of LGBTQI+ identities.

In response, this year InterPride – a coalition of LGBTQI+ rights groups led by Reverend Troy Perry, an 83-year-old gay man who has been active in the US movement since before Stonewall – organised Africa Pride, a hybrid event that took place across the continent and around the world in June.

The virtual event included an art exhibition, concert and films showcasing the history of the African LGBTQI+ movement and the issues facing African LGBTQI+ people, as well as a virtual gallery offering a wide range of resources. Most events in Africa were held privately and online. A physical gathering billed as a historic first was planned in Tanzania, but a week before it was due to take place, LGBT Voice Tanzania, the country’s leading LGBTQI+ group, announced its cancellation.

That made South Africa, where people marched in numbers, a notable exception. Reflecting the fact that LGBTQI+ people have equal legal rights in South Africa, there were big Pride marches in Cape Town and Johannesburg, and many more in other parts of the country.

Middle East’s Pride desert

LGBTQI+ people have few to no rights across most of the Middle East. Half the region’s countries criminalise sex between men, with prison sentences in six countries and the possibility of capital punishment in at least three: Iran, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. And 2024 saw further regression as Iraq approved a bill severely criminalising same-sex relations and their ‘promotion’, as well as gender transitioning.

No wonder there wasn’t much action on Middle Eastern streets this year. In Lebanon, Beirut hosted its first Pride event in 2017, the only one in the Arab world, but there haven’t been any signs of it mobilising this year.

The region’s largest Pride event, Tel Aviv’s, was also cancelled this year on the grounds that this was no time for celebration. Established for a quarter of a century, this is usually a large event that draws up to 250,000 people.

Pride and hope

Around the world, despite the constraints they face, LGBTQI+ activists see Pride events as a key space for visibility, helping to normalise the presence of LGBTQI+ people in public spaces and promoting dialogue and acceptance. They offer platforms to challenge social norms, foster community, celebrate diversity, express solidarity and make demands for equality and rights.

When Pride events are unrestricted and can serve as a mass rallying point, they’re a testament to how far the struggle for rights has come. But they also serve a purpose when they’re held discreetly in semi-public, private or online settings. The very act of coming together makes them a powerful statement of defiance and hope. In the face of anti-rights backlash, they’re needed now more than ever.

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