MADRID: Massive Crowd Attends WorldPride [VIDEO]

While city officials say “hundreds of thousands” took part in the parade, organizers estimate that around two million attended yesterday’s WorldPride event in Madrid. Deutsche Welle reports:

All of Spain’s major political parties, both left and right, led the parade with a large banner that read “For LGBTI Rights All Over the World.” “For all the people in countries who are suffering persecution, we have to celebrate and make visible our pride,” Jesus Generelo, the head of the Spanish federation of LGBTI people, told a large crowd after the march.

Four activists read a manifesto urging the European Union to help export LGBTI rights around the world, particularly focusing on Chechnya, Russia, and other countries that discriminate against, criminalize or torture gay people. The manifesto also called for the World Health Organization to stop categorizing transgender identity as a mental illness.

Posters and banners with the motto “Whoever you love, Madrid loves you” were displayed around the city, including at the popular Plaza Mayor square. The parade also coincides with the 40th anniversary of Spain’s first LGBT parade that took place in Barcelona in 1977.

New York City hosts the next WorldPride in 2019 on the 50th anniversary of Stonewall. THAT will be a party, kids.