It didn’t rain on their parade

Married couple Sean Patrick Gunn and Gert van der Linde celebrate at the Durban Pride Parade. Photo: Vivian Atwood

Married couple Sean Patrick Gunn and Gert van der Linde celebrate at the Durban Pride Parade. Photo: Vivian Atwood

Published Jul 31, 2011

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It poured all week, but the sun came out for the Durban Pride Parade on Saturday.

Hundreds of participants dressed in colourful outfits took to the streets of Durban to fight for the rights and empowerment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people.

The parade, organised by the Durban Lesbian and Gay Community and Health Centre, is part of Durban Pride Week, which started on July 25 and ends today. Nonhlanhla Mkhize, director of the centre, welcomed the participants warmly, saying, “You all look so beautiful. Nice and bright, just as we are as gays and lesbians.”

Ten years ago, former Durban mayor Obed Mlaba declared that Cape Town “could stay with its moffies and its gays”.

On Sunday, Mishack Nyawose, representing new mayor James Nxumalo, said: “Ethekwini supports what you are doing. Enjoy yourselves.”

Members of the Deo Gloria Family Church came out in force to show their support, with signs reading, “God loves me just as I am.”

Reverend Deborah Bell’s church is one of the few that performs same sex marriages. - Sunday Tribune

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