COSTA RICA NEWS – Fancy costumers, body paint, men with upper torso exposed and scantily clad women, were among the almost 10.000 people who took part in Sunday’s Marcha de la Diversidad (Diversity March) in San José.
The event included electronic music, with renditions of Madonna, Lady Gana and Rihanna.
Starting at the La Sabana park, moving along Paseo Colon and Avenida Segunda, ending at the gates of Chinatown, members and supporters of Costa Rica’s lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBT) community demonstrated its festive spirit.
The majority in attendance were young. Entire families, with children, seniors and even pets took part in the march across the main west-east route in San José.
The LGBT community also received support from a number of major sponsors, like Intel, Reuters, HP (Hewlett Packard) and Procter & Gamble, all companies with a presence in Costa Rica.
Represented also was the Lutheran Church and the U.S. Embassy in San José. “We are here to support diversity. The rights of people is something we should fight every day. The people have to go and fight and talk about these issues, ” said Gonzalo R. Gallegos, Chargé d’Affaires, a.i. at the U.S. Embassy in San José, Costa Rica.
The aim of the march was to seek approval of laws in favour of equal marriage between persons of the same sex, gender identity for transgenders and to combat discrimination against the LGBT groups, according to Marco Castillo, leader of the Diversity Movement in Costa Rica.
Raising the flag of diversity at Casa Presidencial shows a sign of support for the community by the government of Luis Guillermo Solís, according to the activist.
The march was moved up 2 hours, starting at 10am instead of noon and moved to the second page a few hours later with the win of Costa Rica’s national football team.
