Here Are Some Of The Best Moments From Pride 2023 Around The World
Here’s a look back at some of the biggest events from Pride 2023.
From the streets of London and Kathmandu to Seoul and Bogotá, thousands of people around the world took part in marches, parades and protests to mark LGBTQ Pride Month in June.
Here’s a look back at some of the biggest events from Pride 2023.
1. Bangkok, Thailand
Tens of thousands of people attend Thailand’s Bangkok pride including front-runner for prime minister, Pita Limjaroenrat, who has promised to legalize same-sex marriage.
In June 2022, Thai lawmakers passed a first reading of four different bills on same-sex unions, including two bills that would allow same-sex marriages and two others that would permit civil partnerships.
A committee will now examine the bills in detail and consolidate them into two proposals, with MPs choosing between civil partnerships or same-sex marriage.
Limajaroenrat, whose progressive Move Forward party, secured the most votes out of any part in the general elections in May 2023, has promised to legalize same-sex marriage if he becomes prime minister.
If legalized, Thailand would become the third country in Asia to allow same-sex marriage after Taiwan and Nepal.
2. Warsaw, Poland
Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of Warsaw to demand the right-wing government stop attacking LGBTQ rights.
The demonstration comes just weeks after half a million people in Poland held an unprecedented protest against the Law and Justice party.
Since it came to power in 2015, the ruling right-wing Law and Justice party has been eroding democracy and attacking human rights.
Same-sex relationships are not legally recognized in Poland, which is predominantly Catholic.
In recent years, with the government’s support, more than 90 regions in Poland declared themselves to be “LGBT-free” zones – areas that are unwelcoming of “LGBTQ ideology”.
LGBTQ rights in Poland is now one of the worst in European Union countries, according to the 2021 report by ILGA-Europe, a leading LGBTQ advocacy group.
3. Bogotá, Colombia
As Pride month drew to an end, more than 100,000 people took to the streets of Colombia’s capital, Bogotá, in a massive LGBTQ pride march.
Bogotá’s first lesbian mayor, Claudia Lopez said it was the biggest pride parade in Colombia’s history.
Pride parades also took place in other cities including Medellin, Cali and Barranquilla.
4. Kathmandu, Nepal
During Pride month in 2023, Nepal became the first least developed country to legalize same-sex marriage.
This came after the country’s Supreme Court issued a temporary order to allow same-sex marriages on Wednesday June 28.
Now, same-sex couples and people who identify as third gender can register their marriage and enjoy the same rights as heterosexual married couples.
Nepal has now become the second country in Asia to legalize same-sex marriage after Taiwan.
5. Istanbul, Turkey
More than 149 people were detained in Istanbul as activists defied a ban on Pride to hold a march on June 25.
The Turkish government has suppressed the event since 2015.
6. Rome, Italy
In Rome, thousands of people marched and protested against the far-right prime minister attacking LGBTQ rights.
In May, far-right prime minister Giorgia Meloni, who was elected in September 2022, started restricting the parental rights of same-sex couples.
Although she emphasized being a woman and mother on her campaign trail, she has voiced opposition to abortion, euthanasia and same-sex relationships.
“Yes to the natural family, no to the LGBT lobby, yes to sexual identity, no to gender ideology… no to Islamist violence, yes to secure borders, no to massive migration, Meloni said in a speech in Spain in June.
Although same-sex marriage is legal in Italy, Meloni told the local government in Milan to stop registering non-biological parents in same-sex couples.
By refusing to recognize parental rights of same-sex couples, the government is thus complicating the everyday lives of thousands of families, preventing non-biological parents from accessing schooling services and authorizing medical treatments to leaving children with the prospect of becoming orphaned in extreme scenarios.
7. Seoul, South Korea
Roughly 50,000 people showed up for the Pride march in Seoul, despite the city government denying the parade organizers a prime spot and gave it to an anti-LGBTQ Christian group instead.
In 2023, the country officially recognized same-sex couples’ rights for the first time after a gay couple sued South Korea’s health insurance for denying them partner status and won.
The supreme court ruled in February that its national health insurance must cover same-sex partners, after So Seong-wook and Kim Yong-min, a same-sex couple, brought forward a case when one partner was denied insurance cover as a dependent of his partner.
In its ruling, the court argued that the decision to deny the benefit to same-sex couples could be considered discrimination, given that the national health insurance had previously granted the benefit to civil unions.
In June, the country also proposed a bill to legalize same-sex marriage.
Another bill legalizing civil partnerships has also been proposed as an alternative to marriage.
8. Helsinki, Finland
About 100,000 people braved the rain to take part in LGBTQ Pride celebrations in Helsinki.
In February, Finland made it easier for people to legally change their gender.
The new law will allow people over 18 to choose their legal gender on official documents without undergoing invasive medical and psychological procedures.
Individuals can now use a declaration to change their gender on official documents.
The new law includes a 30-day “reflection period” in which people can change their minds.
The law passed on Wednesday Feb. 1 by 113 to 69 votes and has been a priority for the country, according to Finnish prime minister Sanna Marin.
9. Toronto, Canada
Toronto’s annual pride parade was attended by thousands of people, including the city’s first Chinese-Canadian mayor, Olivia Chow.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who has attended Toronto Pride previously, missed this year’s event as he was at a summit in Iceland.
10. Jerusalem
Despite heavy police presence, a larger than usual number of people attended pride in Jerusalem in a show of force against the new far-right government.
11. London, UK
At Pride in London, activists marched in solidarity with LGBTQ people in Uganda, which passed a law that jails people for life for having gay sex.
Homosexuality is already illegal in Uganda, but the law further cracks down on being LGBTQ in the deeply conservative and religious country.
Under the law, people who have gay sex would face life imprisonment and just attempting same-sex relations could result in seven years in prison.
People who commit “aggravated homosexuality”, which involves having gay sex while being HIV positive or with people under the age of 18, could face the death penalty.
12. Pristina, Kosovo
Thousands of people gathered around the slogan “I love you as you are!”.
This is Kosovo’s seventh pride march.
13. São Paulo, Brazil
Brazil continued its tradition of holding one of the world’s biggest pride events, attracting people from all around the world.
