The Diary Game - 15th Gay pride in Rosario 30.10.21

Yesterday was truly amazing, as it was the gay pride day in Rosario - the day when all outed LGBT community is celebrating their freedom and diversity. In this short reportage, I will try to present to you how did it look like.

The event started at 13.00 in Plaza Libertad (a very accurate name), but we have joined it four hours later, as I had to finish my responsibilities related to managing the community on Steemit. I wanted all my polyamorous family to be there with me, but out of four boyfriends, only two could go. Jorge and Isaac were helping their friend to make a birthday party, so I went with @willeusz and Krzyś.

In Plaza Libertad there was plenty of attractions: in one of the mini-shops with the souvenirs, we bought a few stuff, like the rainbow mask, flag, and a bowtie that later our dog, Panda, was wearing proudly for the rest of the day (he didn't let us take it off :) ). Then there was music, a photo spot with the big flag, a picnic area, a bondage area, and some drag queens show.

It was planned that at 18.00 the gay pride march will start from the very same spot but as usual in that situation, everything was delayed for half an hour or so. We had plenty of time to look around and make some pictures. As a person from a more homophobic country, I was surprised by how safe the event was. In Poland, I'm used to the pictures where there are more police than gay pride participants. Here the police was not necessary at all (later, during the pride march there were six policemen, but more to navigate the cars) - there were no protesters against equal rights.

The crowd, according to the organizers, reached over 25 000 people. A lot. There was a place for everyone. Every single letter from the LGBTQIA+ community was represented. There were queer families with kids, drag queens presenting futuristic costumes, feminists, BDSM community, so much hated by the homophobes, polyamorists, like us. The majority of people were younger than us, so in some way, I felt like a dinosaur. All that teenagers and youngsters probably do not remember the country without the equality, as gay marriages are legal in Argentina for 20 years now.

Still, with marriage equality, help in finding a job and reaching good education for transgender people, and treating homophobic hate speech as a crime (in the Santa Fe region, not whole the country yet), there is plenty of things to fight for. HOmophobia in smaller villages is still present, although more represented by aggressive language than physical violence. The situation of LGBTQ, especially transgender people in many regions is very difficult. Gay Pride was not as much a political statement as in more conservative countries. Here, it was more the celebration of diversity, sexual freedom, joy related to the fact that we can be ourselves.

I was hoping to meet many of my friends there, but I've met only four people. Probably there was more of them somewhere in the crowd but with 25 000 people, it would be difficult to recognize them.

The pride march started slowly. It included five dancing platforms, many organizations, most political parties representations, representations from all the city universities, and... well, everyone was there. In the air, the weed smoke was overwhelming, on the floor dancing people. The atmosphere was powerful so after some time I got lost in the dance too, even though I'm not a party person. The march was moving very slowly, so we reached the place located 1 km away in an hour. Then the real party has started.

The stage located in a park next to the river is supposed to attract everyone. The event was planned only until midnight due to Covid restrictions but most people left much before going to the clubs or launching Grindr and enjoying the company of the tourists who arrived in the city. I stayed, but cumbia from the stage was testing me a lot and at some point, I was close to going home. The vocalist was singing worse than me.

@willeusz left us a bit before because he needed to rest. My other love, Krzysiu, stayed until the concert, but we mostly were spending time away from the scene talking or playing "hot or not" on the dating app. I was going to come back home, but then my other triad called me that they are coming. It was almost the end of the event. Jorge and Isaac watched up maybe the last 20 minutes before the "goodbye" was said from the stage. It's good that they managed to come even for that few minutes though. Maybe next year we will be able to spend more time together.

I came back home happy and tired. Relaxed like never before. My relax lasted until today morning when I realized how much pending work on Steemit I have :D

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Thanks for reading,
@papi.mati

All the photos are made by me, two made by @willeusz and published with his permission :)