Our city is very colourful for quite some time now, and I guess it is not wrong to say, Dublin is gay. Since most of people who know English are aware that original meaning of the word “gay” means “happy” or “joyful”, yes, Dublin is a happy place.

Besides its happiness, Dublin is really supportive toward peoples rights, and this years Gay Pride lasted two weeks, including three weekends. It started on 14th of June and it will end today. Main event, gay pride parade was held yesterday, but we missed it! 🙂

However, we did a small walk around the city centre, and it was still quite busy and cheerful.

01_Rainbow_Flags

The fact that gay pride is happening in the city was obvious since the city centre is decorated with the rainbow flags for weeks now.

02_Flags_around_the_city_centre

And as the parade day was approaching, more and more places had rainbow flag on their doors, windows or in patios. 🙂

02_Flags_around_the_city_centre_2

Small shops, big shops, corporations and bakeries, almost everyone expressed their support.

03_Gay_support_Bakery

And more and more people wearing interesting clothing started walking around the city. 🙂

04_gay_rights_supporters

Some of them expressed support wearing small rainbow flag stickers, some were completely colourful, and some were just in the mass, supporting their friends. Parade itself was apparently the biggest so far, and around 40 000 people was in it. It’s a “bit” smaller than St.Patrick’s parade, but still, 40 000 people is a nice colourful crowd.

06_Gay_Superman

Some people had big flags…

07_Gay_supporter_photographer

Photographers had rainbow flowers around their necks…

08_Rainbow_Legs

And some people expressed their support with colourful rainbow legs.

05_Rainbow_ballons

In the end, people were having fun and enjoyed this day without any problems.

Since this years pride was sponsored by Google, even Android was gay in the parade (found on youtube):

When I asked at work, is it a “big thing”, can we expect troubles in the city centre, answer was – “Well, Dublin is very gay friendly, so yeah, if there are some homophobes, maybe some people who are not tolerant towards aggressive homophobes may beat them, but no, it’s not a thing to worry about.”

And it wasn’t. It seems that people of Dublin are used to live and let others live.

Since back home gay pride is usually a big thing, and comments on the internet are very aggressive, I’ve checked a few Irish sites. There are individuals pointing out that being “gay” is against the Christianity, and that we will all burn in hell soon, but it is far less aggressive, and with far less separation among people.

The conclusion of media and organizers of gay pride here in Dublin is that gay pride became a celebration and confirmation of individuality.

Second post in Jun! 🙂

Till next one…

Love

Balky

By adminko

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