November 2nd, the Pride march (or Marcha de Orgullo) took place in Buenos Aires. Inspired by the celebrations of May the 17th in Norway, some students at Pichincha organized a breakfast at the roof-top terrace to kick-start the festivities. It was a great start to a great day and we were very also lucky with the weather. Someone even said, “we should have these breakfasts every weekend, Pride or not!”.
Soaked in glitter and dressed in colorful clothes and Pride flags, we then headed to Casa Rosada from where the march were about to start in a few hours. Here, a huge amount of people already enjoyed the party and themselves – many of them able to truly live out their true self in the safe environment that a Pride festival is.
Argentina as a whole is liberal when it comes to LGBT-rights and were the first country in Latin America and the 10th country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage in 2010. They also have a very advanced position when it comes to transgender rights. This year’s edition of Pride was the largest one so far, and so the trend is very positive even though LGBT-persons still faces challenges- as in most countries.
Together with some of the other Swedish students (and one undercover Norwegian) I headed towards the Swedish embassy right before the march started. For the first time ever, they had a section in the march. It’s relatively unusual for embassies to take such a clear political standpoint and participate in political events in foreign countries, but personally I felt very proud to walk in the march with them.
Photo by: Swedish Embassy
The march itself was apparently bigger than ever, and a true emotional rollercoaster of euphoria, pride, relief, happiness and courage all in one mess. Thousands of people celebrating love that had to be hidden not to long ago- it’s enough to make anyone get goosebumps in a 25-degree heat. After the march we made a quick pit-stop at Pichincha to reload with some food, a nap and more glitter before heading to a party. Needless to say, this was one of the longest days of the stay in Buenos Aires (and hardest for some, as seen on the following Monday morning) but hey, I don’t complain – I hope that the feeling during Pride could go on forever.
-Elin-