30 Jul 2024

LGBTIQ+ Pride took to the streets of Turbo in Urabá Antioquia

Every 28 June since 1970, cities around the globe hold parades to commemorate the riots at a New York club a year earlier, which led to several nights of unrest by citizens protesting against police brutality. Thus, International Pride Day was conceived as a celebration of diversity that highlights the needs and achievements of the LGBTIQ+ community.

According to a 2015 joint statement by United Nations agencies, 76 countries criminalize consensual relationships between people with LGBTIQ+ orientations. These relationships were decriminalized in Colombia in 1982. Since then, Pride Day has been commemorated in the country with social mobilizations and educational activities.

Last June, the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia supported the commemoration of Pride Day in the municipality of Turbo, in Urabá Antioquia. Members of the LGBTIQ+ community marched down the streets carrying rainbow flags and signs with messages alluding to their rights and wore colourful costumes and headdresses.

“We live Pride responsibly. We thank the United Nations for their support and the whole community for participating in this magnificent and wonderful demonstration,” said Sebastián Mosquera, a member of Corporación Mesa Diversa of Turbo. “The LGBTI community of Turbo means love, joy and resistance,” added Eider Murillo Hidalgo, another member of Mesa Diversa.

Similarly, on 28 June, the forum “An Intersectoral Look at Ensuring the Rights of LGBTIQ+ Individuals” was held in Turbo. This event was a collaboration between Mesa Diversa and Turbo Mayor’s Office, with the support of the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia and USAID, and the participation of Corporación Caribe Afirmativo, the Agency for Normalization and Reintegration, and the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society.

According to Turbo Mayor’s Office, this forum served to “recognize the resilience of the LGBTIQ+ community to the structural violence they face daily in Colombia and around the world.”

The Pride flag

Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple form the distinctive rainbow flag created in 1978 by Gilbert Baker. It is considered one of the main symbols of LGBTIQ+ Pride, and represents the diverse groups of this community and their struggles for the rights of people with lesbian, gay, transsexual, bisexual, intersex, queer, and other gender identities and sexual orientations.