CAPE TOWN CELEBRATES PRIDE 2010
Photo by David Lee
Thousands took to the street of Cape Town on Saturday morning to celebrate gay Pride 2010 and to take a stand against homophobia, locally and in Africa.
Colourful floats and marchers wound their way through the city centre to the sound of thumping dance music. “It was the biggest yet,” said Cape Town Pride Chairperson Glenn De Swardt, who estimated that up to 8,000 people took part in the event.
He noted that this year’s parade was particularly focused on political issues, especially the deteriorating human rights of LGBT people across Africa, including the rape and murder of lesbians in South Africa.
The minster of arts and culture, Lulu Xingwana, also came under fire from participants for recently walking out of an exhibition featuring intimate photographs of lesbian couples.
“We’re very cognizant that while we are partying we are also marching for people’s rights,” said De Swardt.
He pointed out that the official Cape Town Pride float consisted of numerous placards making statements in support of lesbian and gay equality.
The Parade was launched with speeches, including an address by the Very Rev Rowan Smith, Dean of St. George’s Cathedral in Cape Town.
Congrats !!!. Wow, that was AWESOME guys, a really impressive show with a fantastic vibe and the after-parade fair was nothing short of FABULOUS !!! Cape Town Pride you guys made me feel proud – it was 100% fantastic so CONGRATS CONGRATS CONGRATS, I already look forward to next year
the best ever, it was a real blast so well done to everybody, you showed everyone else how it should be done
well done. yes I echo that, this was very well organised and it was super cool to see such an incredible mix of people in terms of age, sexuality, race etc all just sharing a fantastic experience, it was really magical so thanks to everyone who helped make this happen
Makes me wish I’d been in Cape Town, sorry I missed it
Bravo. All I can say is Bravo, both the parade and Fair were incredible and clearly very well organised, you set a new standard for other events and for other organisations to follow. Take a bow Cape Town Pride, bravo!
Crime. I was in Jhb but I heard from someone who was there that the only hassle at the after-parade fair was a gang of pick-pockets working the crowd, OK so the organisers made quite a few announcements about this over the PA system so you can’t hold it against them, they asked people to be mindful and tried to prevent it but its just a shame that a few criminals can spoil something so great for some unlucky people. Otherwise it sounds like a total gas, everyone raves about everything so i suppose i must join the chorus hahaha WELL DONE CAPE TOWN
thanks….. …. to Cape Town Pride for making me feel proud to be a gay woman! Well done to everyone involved, it was a fantatsic day and as always happens, the photos can’t do it justice. I look forward to next year’s Pride.
Sorry I couldn’t be there, it sounds so good! Well done guys
Jhb. So come on JHb pride, make it happen for us as well
why?. so what was the big change to make this one so good? and why was the Rainbow Festival in CT in december such a gigantic flop? is it about the organisers or something?
Rainbow. The less said about the Rainbow Festival the better.
However, the success of this year’s Pride is proof that Cape Town’s gay community is not stupid and would rather support a community celebration of Gay Pride with money going to a good cause rather than a for-profit “festival” that deliberatly tried to saboutage CT Pride. While gay Cape Town was celebrating, around the corner the owner of the Rainbow Festival was sitting in his fuck bar being bitter. And yes, the big change at CT Pride was that there was a new Festival Director who was not condecsending and patronising to volunteers and who actually did some work and managed to get some sponsors on board.
Well done to all the organisers and well done to Cape Town for showing such support!
Durban Pride?. I think the peeps in CT have been doing this for quite a while, and also doing bigger events than the Jhb guys, and they brought in fresh blood and tossed out the old festival director but kept on strong leadership. But when will Durban get our act togther and start a Pride here?
So again a volunteer community group pulls off a fantastic Pride festival with no sign at all of any support from other LGBT organisations like Triangle, who get mega funding from donors and get fat salaries but they didn’t even bother to enter a float, so good to see Out in Africa and Gender Dynamics has become part of Pride cause we need to be united instead of bickering, remember the Christian fundamentalists and the straights are united against us. Cape Town Pride must please carry on the good work for all of us.
i like that it also had a human rights message, not just a big fat party – yeah well done Cape Town!