Montreal hosts colorful Gay Pride parade

Dancers in costume march in the annual Gay Pride parade August 14, 2011 in Montreal, Canada. Thousands of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transsexual activists and their friends marched on Sunday in Montreal for the traditional Gay Pride parade. AFP PHOTO/MICHEL VIATTEAU

MONTREAL – Tens of thousands people lined the streets of Montreal on Sunday as the colorful Gay Pride parade headed down the city streets.

Athletic men in swimsuits and dancers in bikinis and colorful plumes shook their bodies to the tune of pop music blasting from giant speakers on flatbed trucks.

The parade’s grand marshal Alice Nkom urged participants to support gay communities in places like her home country of Cameroon.

Homosexual couples can marry and adopt children in Canada, but in Cameroon homosexual acts are illegal, with penalties of up to five years in prison, noted Nkom, an attorney and gay activist.

Marchers also carried signs denouncing politicians they consider homophobic, including French presidential candidate Christine Boutin, US presidential hopeful Michele Bachmann, and right-wing Italian politician Alessandra Mussolini, the granddaughter of World War II fascist dictator Benito Mussolini.