Source: Reuters via Washington Post, Xinhua via People's Daily, Birmingham News
Around 200 gay activists marched through Bucharest, Romania on Saturday in what news service Reuters calls a "heavily policed pride parade."

A US mayor, meanwhile, echoed the action of several eastern European mayors by refusing to grant organizers of a Pride observance any kind of official recognition.

It's a far different situation in Brazil where organizers are bracing to host one of the world's largest LGBT Pride parades -- one that's  likely to draw over three-million spectators and participants.

Marchers in Romania defied efforts by religious and far-right groups to have the annual event banned.

Police said the gay rights march passed off without incident, Reuters reports.

About 1,200 police were deployed to protect the parade this year.

"It is encouraging," riot police spokesman Marius Militaru told reporters. "People are becoming aware that we are heading towards a degree of normality."

Last year riot police detained dozens of protesters who tried to break up a gay rights march.

Earlier this week, anti-gay groups tried to get a court to rule against the march, Romania's fifth annual gay festival.

Two counter-demonstrations were held ahead of the parade. At one, members of a far-right group chanted "Romania does not want you" in a protest they said was "against sin."

Romania decriminalized homosexuality in 2001, but gay people often face hostility in this largely conservative country of 22 million where the powerful Orthodox church views homosexuality as a sin and a disease.

Like the mayors of Moscow, Chisinau, and several other eastern European countries, the mayor of Birmingham, Alabama refuses to grant a parade permit to a group sponsoring the city's annual gay pride celebration.

Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford also refuses to sign a proclamation for the event or allow banners on city property, Birmingham News reports.

Langford said he turned down the requests this week from Central Alabama Pride because it is inappropriate for government to endorse a lifestyle. Pride Week is next month and often includes a parade on Southside and other events.

"My policy is don't ask because it's not my business, and don't put me in the position to make it my business," Langford said Friday. "I don't condone it, but I also am not sitting in judgment on anyone."

Ronald Simoneau, also known as "Libertee Belle," told the News that past mayors have signed the proclamation and allowed the parade. Refusing such an innocuous request sends a message of intolerance to a significant population of the city, he said.

"I did the first gay pride march in 1989," Simoneau said "At that time, even the police were a little worried then, but we've never had a problem at all."

Langford cited his support for increased funding for AIDS outreach programs and a nondiscriminatory hiring policy as evidence of his fair treatment of all people.

"I don't think I'm intolerant, I just don't condone the lifestyle," he said. "Your personal lifestyle should be nobody's issue but yours. It's not a civil rights issue, it's a personal choice issue."

A far different scene is expected Sunday in Sao Paulo, Brazil where organizers of that city's annual gay pride event expect about 3.5 million people from all parts to attend the splashy and colorful event.

The parade will be held on the main avenue of the city in southern Brazil. According to the organizing committee, 22 trucks equipped with high-power sound systems will be used in the event.

But even in Sao Paulo -- as in Romania and elsewhere around the world -- organizers face opposition from religious groups affiliated with right-wing political movements. The theme for this year's parade is "Homophobia Kills! For A Real Lay State."

Organizers of the parade hope the day's event will bring attention to lobbying efforts for national hate-crimes legislation which has been facing opposition from congressmen who represent religious groups in the country, Xinhua reports.

Full article: Gay activists march in Romania despite opposition | Washington Post (Reuters)
Sao Paulo's gay pride parade to gather 3.5 mln people | People's Daily (Xinhua)
Birmingham mayor denies gay parade permit | Birmingham News