São Paulo Gay Pride Parade

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2004 Gay Pride Parade in São Paulo, Brazil. Photo:Rose Brasil - ABr

São Paulo GLBT Pride Parade (in Portuguese Parada do Orgulho GLBT de São Paulo) is a Gay Pride celebration that takes place annually in São Paulo since 1997 in Paulista Avenue.

Its first edition gathered around 2000 participants, according to organizers. There has been controversy about the true number of participants.

In 2006, the parade organizers claimed it to be the biggest Gay Pride celebration in the world, with 2.5 million participants, and the Parade made it to the Guinness book. In 2007, organizers said that the even gathered around 3.5 million people, but there are no other accounts.

The Military Police of São Paulo, who traditionally counted the participants, did not release their account for that year because their calculations were based on number of people per square meter and it would be impossible to count the number of people attending an event with a "floating population". According to the Military Police, the Avenue's capacity is one million people.

The dates of the 2008 the Gay Pride celebration are May 23-26, with the parade itself scheduled for Sunday, the 25th.

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