A tide of rainbow flags swept through the streets of Saint-Denis on Saturday, where several thousand people marched under the sun for the third edition of the “suburban pride march”, noted journalists from the AFP.
To the sound of a fanfare and Brazilian percussion, the participants of this rally, organized to defend the rights of LGBTQI + people residing in working-class neighborhoods, chanted slogans both for medically assisted procreation (PMA) generalized to all and against government, patriarchy or colonialism.
“Tribute”
Behind his sunglasses, Evan Abon, 23, says it’s important for him to participate in Pride “to pay tribute to all those who fought for us and precisely to celebrate the fact that we have so many rights”.
The young man, who lives in Colombes, slim, slender figure and nose piercing, laments that on a daily basis “there are certain things that I don’t allow myself to do, like dressing extravagantly”. “I’m not totally myself and I don’t feel ‘safe’ in certain places and I try to avoid them,” he says.
“In the suburbs, it’s more complicated”
For other activists, there is “a real lack of visibility for racialized queers. Suburban Pride emphasizes that and it’s good,” says Bonita Kouevi, a 20-year-old student, with the inscription “queer” upside down on her forehead, afro hairstyle and sleeves in the colors of the flag. Rainbow.
“In the suburbs it is more complicated because there is less access to help, to care, to listening. (…) In Paris there are many associations and shelters. Queers are not just in the capitals,” she continues.
Elsewhere in the procession, it is the first pride of Marcelino Meduse, a 26-year-old Reunionese, who has lived in Saint-Denis for almost a year. “There were visibility marches in Reunion but I was never there when they took place. This Pride is the most consistent with my background and my experience, ”underlines the young man, surrounded by two friends. Faced with the demands of the LGBTQI + community, the young man invites the government to “get to work”.