Pride parade in pink

18 Feb 2007- The streets of Cape Town were a sea of purple and pink as the Cape Town Pride parade made its way from Green Point to the city centre and back yesterday.

The parade began at noon with floats blasting techno music and people dressed in everything from smart suits and feathered ponchos to almost nothing at all.

The procession featured floats ranging from simply decorated flatbed trucks full of people wearing very little but a lot of body paint, to a "chapel" float carrying recently married gay couples - complete with white lace decorations and a "Just Married" sign.

The parade finished back near De Waterkant, also known to many as the Pink Village, for the Pride Street Party where outdoor bars and vendors were set up and people enjoyed performances by bands such as Goldfish and Coda.

The parade and street party were part of the 11-day Cape Town Pride Festival "Carnival of Love" which ends today with the Pride Seminar Series "Queer Talk" and a book fair at the Victoria Junction Hotel. This is the 7th annual Cape Town Pride Festival.

This year people were able to celebrate the fact that they could legally marry, in terms of the Civil Union Act passed in December.

Lee-Ann van der Vyver attended with her partner, Candice Jones. They plan to marry in September. Van der Vyver said: "Pride is a celebration of the freedom to be gay. One time a year we come together to remember all the years we were deprived of this freedom."

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