Fridae

Despite the lack of official support, organisers said more then 10,000 people lined the pavements of Silom and Surawong roads as the city witnessed its fifth annual Gay Pride Parade last Sunday.

The parade featured 10 floats representing gay and lesbian businesses and organisations as well as numerous flamboyantly dressed drag queens and other participants who danced along the streets to loud music, according to a report in The Nation.

Although the streets were closed to traffic during last year's parade, the participants this year had to share the road with tuks-tuks (local 3-wheeled motorised taxis), cars and buses due to the lack of official support. Police from three districts directed traffic along the parade route and led the parade on motorcycles which may have caused spectators to mistakenly believe that the parade received the support of the authorities.

Citing the organisers of Bangkok Pride Coalition 2003, the paper also reported that the event, which is the largest in Asia, drew tourists from places as far away as Hong Kong and Australia.

Ongart Chakardsongsak, special events chairperson for the Coalition, told the paper that despite the event's potential to attract tourists, they did not get a reply from the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) after a two-month wait.

"The TAT cannot ignore this parade's potential to draw millions of affluent visitors. Bangkok can grow and compete with Sydney's Mardi Gras," said Douglas Thompson, co-chairman of last year's Bangkok parade.

Despite what organisers thought was a success, the event was charged for having "a fairly strong western influence" while other group claimed that the event was being poorly organised, coordinated and publicised.

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Although Dreadedned.com, one of Thailand's first gay websites, acknowledged that while the organisers have been successful in raising money for community needs over the past years, it charged that the event had "a fairly strong western influence." The site added that other [unnamed] local community groups - who hope to build awareness, and gain rights and acceptance for local gays - want a voice and things done more "Thai style."

Meanwhile, Dragoncastle.net, who is an official media partner of Bangkok Pride, said in a statement that "Bangkok Pride 2003 has been an unmitigated disaster."

"We appreciate that the committee have a very difficult job to do and 2003 saw unusual problems, but it is obvious that there has been poor organisation, poor coordination, and poor publicity.

"As an official media partner of Bangkok Pride, Dragoncastle had no idea what was going on; there was little or no feedback from the committee.

"The overall effect was that we were unable to tell potential visitors what was happening, and that did not encourage people to attend, whether Thai or foreigners.

"The Parade on Sunday was almost a waste of time, with only a handful of floats and a fraction of the visitor numbers we saw last year. A party at Freeman on Sunday evening was a last minute addition to the program and was not publicised - typical of this year's events in general."

Although the parade is in its fifth year, the Coalition was founded in 2001 by local gay and lesbian business people and community groups, which held its first events during the 2001 "original" Bangkok Gay Festival that began in the city in 1999.