The Johannesburg Lesbian and Gay Pride Heritage Week’s Pride march will return to Johannesburg’s inner city on its 16th anniversary this year.
Jo’burg Pride coordinator Paul Tilly said the festival, running from September 17 to 24, is themed Pride: Sweet Sixteen: the Right to Be, the Freedom to Express, and will culminate with the traditional Pride march and mardi gras.
”It is our belief that bringing Pride back to the inner city — and linking key historical, political and cultural places such as Constitutional Hill, Newtown and the Nelson Mandela Bridge — will elevate the profile of our messaging and our engagement with diverse audiences and other sectors.”
This year’s march will start off in the square at 3.30pm outside the Constitutional Court at Constitution Hill.
Tilly said the venue was chosen for its significance, both for the impending same-sex marriage case and because of the link to the world’s first Constitution to enshrine the right to sexual orientation in its Bill of Rights.
The parade will then continue through town towards Newtown, and then traverse the Nelson Mandela Bridge, ”which is in itself symbolic of linking a great divide”.
The march will culminate in a street party and mardi gras at the new Heartlands clubbing and bar complex in Braamfontein.
”Heartlands has indicated their willingness to host and part-sponsor the culminating mardi gras, which will enable us to ensure that there is no cover charge, thus making the event open to a broader audience,” said Tilly.
Heartlands has committed about R500 000 to the mardi gras after the march.
”Our ultimate objective for years to come is to establish key public and private partnerships to maximise resources. It is important for Pride to engage with the rebirth and modernisation of sub-Saharan Africa’s financial capital, and we need to ensure that Jo’burg Pride is an annual event on the city calendar,” Tilly said.
The week preceding the march will be dedicated to workshops and cultural initiatives that will be centred primarily on Constitution Hill.
”We are trying to ensure that we engage all aspects of the lesbian and gay community and appeal to as diverse an audience as possible,” said Tilly. — Sapa