Pride 2021 at Zócalo in México CIty (Photo by Jesús Chaírez)

Mexico City Pride, set for June 24, rivals NYC Pride in size

JESUS CHAIREZ | Contributing Writer
chairezstudio@gmail.com

México City’s GLBTQ Pride parade will be held Saturday, June 24, with people beginning to gather at 10 a.m. at the Angel of Independence monument, located on Paso de la Reforma in La Zona Rosa.
The parade kicks off, as always, at noon and ends with entertainment and speeches given from a stage at the México City central plaza, the Zócalo.

This will be the 44th year for the parade, officially known as “la Marcha” (the March), because that is what it is exactly: a march for freedom and justice. Though Mexico City had the first GLBTQ+ parade in Latin America, it is now the second-biggest behind São Paulo Brazil and is comaparable in size with the Pride parade in New York City.

Anyone coming to México City for the Pride parade should arrive at least a couple of days early to participate in all the festivities that will be going on around the city. Though most people will head out to the gay district, La Zona Rosa, a lot of people will also be going to the second gay entertainment district, located in the city center and known as Centro Historico (Historic Center) on the street named República de Cuba.

Méxicao-City’s-Bellas-Artes-museum,-which-is-on-the-parade-route-in-the-Historical-City-Center,-lights-up-for-Pride.-(Photo-by-Jesús-Chaírez)

Lots of people from Dallas, missing the fanfare of Dallas’ parade on Cedar Springs, are heading to México City for the Pride event, including Carl Smith, the last original owner of Dallas’ first LGBTQ Latino nightclub, Bamboleo’s. Smith has rented an Airbnb on the parade route across the street from Alameda Park where, he said, he will host an intimate soirée with friends to view the parade as it passes by his fifth-floor rented condo.

Many others, though, will be on the street, getting up close to all the Pride México City has to offer.

Jesús Chaírez is a México City-based freelance writer formerly from Dallas. He was the producer and host of North Texas’ first bilingual LGBTQ Latino radio show, Sin Fronteras, on KNON 89.3 FM from July 1993 to July 2005. He can be reached at Facebook.com/JesusChairez.