40 thousand participants in the closing LGBT parade; over 50 events (including debates, concerts, films and documentaries, theatrical performances, exhibitions, workshops) during the week of the Pride Village at Villa Pantelleria in collaboration with dozens of artists and associations and with the participation of many thousands of Palermo citizens; almost all of the new municipal council present at the LGBT Pride, from the day of the
A press conference will be held at Palazzo Ziino, near the Department of Culture, until the procession on June 23rd, with the Palermo Pride banner carried around the city by six councilors.
These are some of the numbers that demonstrate the resounding success of the 2012 Palermo LGBT Pride. But the numbers fail to convey the truly extraordinary quality of a Pride that is "unique" in our country's tradition: that of being a celebration of freedom and a joyful vindication of denied rights, featuring the entire city of Palermo. Pride is increasingly seen as a home not only for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender people, but also for students, workers, the unemployed, migrants, people with disabilities, and bilingual Deaf people. It is the only event where women and men fight for the right to full self-expression, choosing joy and the serene and festive exposure of their faces and bodies over violence.
In thanking all the artists, volunteers, associations, political parties, movements, unions, businesses, and everyone whose work and participation made this extraordinary event possible (from the beginning of the journey we call "Towards Pride" to the LGBT parade and closing party), we cannot fail to express a special thanks to our Mayor Leoluca Orlando. Not only for his participation in the parade and closing rallies, but above all for his unprecedented appeal in Italy: for the first time, it is the City, through its institutions, and not the LGBT movement, that is requesting permission to host the following year's National Pride.
We believe, with great satisfaction for the value of the work done over many years of activism, that this was made possible by having built a Pride that, through the visibility of the pride of the LGBT community, actually celebrates the pride of an entire city and of all the women and men who live and breathe it.