Rainbows in the Zocalo

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Mexicans might march to different drummers, but they always seem to end up in the same place, parading past the Metropolitan Cathedral and the National Palace in Mexico City’s sprawling central plaza, known as the Zocalo.

On Saturday, thousands of men and women joined in a spirited gay pride parade that snaked through crowds of supporters and curious passers-by on the narrow downtown streets leading to the Zocalo.
Maybe it’s the country’s conservative, some would say repressed, culture that fueled the joyous Bacchanalian atmosphere.

The parade’s unofficial theme was Sal Del Closet, get out of the closet. Trucks towed flatbeds filled with men stripped to the waist, some in thongs and loin-cloths, others clad in wedding gowns or costumed as fairies, butterflies and angels.

There was a giddiness among the couples making out for the crowds, the kind of show that’s long lost its shock for most Americans. Stereos rigged on the floats blasted Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive,” as if it were 1978, and heartbreak still the worst consequence of broken love affairs: “I will survive as long as I know how to love, I know I will stay alive.”

Posted by Sam Enriquez in Mexico City