Millions Celebrate Pride Around the World

Millions of people around the world celebrated Gay Pride in parades and festivals during the weekend, and several of the celebrations took on added significance because of historic court rulings.

In the United States, large crowds turned out Sunday for Pride parades in New York, San Francisco, Atlanta, Chicago and Seattle, among other cities. The estimated total participants for those five cities exceeded 2 million.

Many participants paid tribute in a variety of ways to the Supreme Court, which handed down a landmark decision last week that decriminalized private, consensual gay sex.

In Manhattan, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., shouted through a megaphone, "Let's hear it for Gay Pride. Let's even hear it for the Supreme Court -- who ever thought we'd say that?"

References to the court's ruling were also found on sticker slogans ("My bedroom, my business") and signs ("We had sodomy for breakfast.")

"It definitely makes this parade more special, because the ruling shows everybody else what we already know -- there's nothing wrong with being gay or with gay sex," Chris Toppen, 36, told the Tacoma News during Seattle's parade.

Former pro baseball player Billy Bean was the grand marshal of Chicago's parade, and former Atlanta Falcon football pro Esera Tuaolo, who came out last year, had the spotlight in Atlanta.

"It's wonderful because it feels wonderful that I'm here and I'm not lying," Tuaolo told an Atlanta TV station. "When I was here in '98, I was deep into the closet."

In Toronto, where a court granted full marriage rights to same-sex couples in Canada, "Pride brides" led the parade, drinking Champagne and riding in white stretch limousines, Canada's National Post reported.

To accommodate an expected rush of Pride same-sex weddings, Toronto City Hall remained open during the weekend. As of Sunday afternoon, 20 same-sex couples were married there, according to the Post.

One of the newlywed couples, Brent and Steve Scheuerman-Stallone, who traveled from Kansas City, Mo., told the newspaper they expect "a lot of discrimination" when they return to the United States.

Throughout Europe, an estimated 2 million people took part in Pride celebrations. The openly gay mayors of Berlin, Klaus Wowereit, and Paris, Bertrand Delanoe, led the parades in their respective cities.

In India, approximately 35 men marched in a "Walk on the Rainbow" rally in Calcutta, the Scotsman reported. During the rare Pride event, marchers where booed by some bystanders.