A post by Joe Mendonca
A second Azores Pride Festival will be held from 25 to 31 August 2013 in Ponta Delgada, after having a successful first gay pride event on the island in 2012, and what is hoped to become an annual event.
More than 2000 people participated in the first-ever Pride Azores event on September 1, 2012, a success considering the islands isolation and hidden attitudes towards LGBT, which are more open on the content of Portugal, the event highlights the Azores are not exempt from having gay residents too.
This years theme is titled "Do not blend into the landscape", encouraging the 20,000 inhabitants to come out and celebrate who they are and stop hiding.
The highlight of the event, the LGBT Pride Parade is scheduled for Saturday, August 31, at 18h, taking the route between the City Gates and the Gates of Sea of Ponta Delgada, the largest city of the Azores A fairly new area that is used to dock some of the worlds major cruise ships that pass by the picturesque island of São Miguel on cross Atlantic routes.
The Festival, organized by the LGBT Pride Azores, is open to anyone and not limited to individuals of LGBT but also with the participation and collaboration of heterosexual supporters. Details of the week long program are found on the Pride Azores website, with events and schedules throughout the week.
The organization Pride Azores will now continue it´s work on all 9 islands of the Azores, an autonomous region of Portugal, with workshops in schools, libraries, and other special events throughout the year supporting the over 20,000 citizens that are mostly in the closet. The Azores has a population of approximately 250,000, but there are many more Azoreans living in the areas of Toronto, Canada and California, USA, amongst other parts of the world.
The Association aims to support and social integration of the population lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people and their families in the Azores, through educational programs, social and cultural. The motto of the Association is to educate, liberate and celebrate.
Pride Azores
Gay Travel: First Pride Azores
