Cross-listed at Brazil with Pleasure.

Desfile dos Gay em Rio de Janeiro/ 14th Annual  Gay Pride Parade  in Rio de Janeiro to Draw Millions on October 10, 2010.

Acabo de descubrir um site muito cheio de informações sobre o desfile dos gay em Rio de Janeiro que vai ser realizado no dia 10 de Outubro 2010 a 13:00 horas da tarde. Realmente se espera um celebração que dura muito mais de um dia, entre dia oito e dia dez de Outubro.

Today, the “Brazil with Pleasure” blog received the following Comments:

Blogger A Gay Mormon Boy says …

I just stumbled across your blog via Pam's House Blend and was enthralled by your insights into Brazilian culture. I lived in [redacted: (Brazil)] as a Mormon missionary only to discover my sexuality soon after my return to the US.

On almost a daily basis, I think about the concept of "saudades" to the point that it became the central focus of my thesis. I look forward to reading more about my second homeland, which seems so much more welcoming at times than Utah, the place I was born and raised.

Blogger Francis L. Holland says …

In the US and Mormon context, it is courageous of you to find and express your sexuality. It probably is no coincidence that this occurred after your time in Brazil.

I certainly hope you are able to find community and acceptance in the United States, or are able to spend more time in Brazil. I certainly can understand your "saudades" (feelings of missing a lost person, place or thing) after your stay in Brazil. I hope you can come back to Brazil often, maybe even for this year's gay pride parade of October 10?!

 

Gays are more accepted in Brasil. One website in English announcing the details of the October 10, 2010 Rio de Janeiro Gay Pride March says:

Asked about gay adoption and benefits for gay partners, [President] Lula approved them and commented that many municipalities and states in Brazil have already approved such measures. He also said his presence at the recent National Conference on Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Travestis, where he stated that "homophobia" is the most perverse disease impregnated in the human mind. " "Why didn’t the politicians who are against (homosexual adoption and benefits to homosexual partners) reject the votes [of homosexuals]?" Lula asked. "Why doesn’t the Brazilian State refuse the income tax they pay?"

I have no way to attest for the veracity of the details in the Mormon boy's comment above (although they seem quite genuine to me), except to say that Mormons can be seen walking around in many parts of Brazil, wearing formal dark suit pants, white oxford shirts and dark-colored backpacks that certainly make them stand out in the informal culture of the north of Brazil. They wear black name tags with white letter in their breast pockets, that identify them as, e.g. “Elder Johnson” or “Elder Smith.” These “elders” are invariably male.

On one occasion I asked some locally-based US Mormon young men to meet with Brazilians as a way of improving the Brazilians' English skills. In this context, I asked the Mormons to tell the Brazilians what their most shocking experience had been in Brazil.

The Mormons recounted that, in a certain native Indian village, rumor had it that the Mormons carried around human skulls in their backpacks!

In any case, with at least two million participants, the October 10 annual Gay Pride March in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil will once again be the largest gay pride and straight gathering on the planet Earth.