Anyone at Pride BKK?

[floridarob]

[PeterRS]

What a shame that no one seems to have attended the Pride March on Sunday! I was in Taipei that day but my partner went with some friends and they loved it, but it was the first one he has attended and so I don't think he had any expectations. Anyone know how many participated - i.e. marched? Khaosodenglish has a brief description along with a few photos. Other sites have some basic information. But I can find absolutely nothing about the numbers marching. And on google I find nothing from the Bangkok Post!

https://www.khaosodenglish.com/life/2025/06/01/thailand-kicks-off-pride-month-with-a-parade-in-bangkok/#google_vignette

The reason I think this is relatively important is that Bangkok has anounced it will be in the running to become the first Asian nation to host the 2030 Gay Games event. Actually it would not be the first. Hong Kong (yes, Hong Kong!) was co-host of the 2023 Games (postponed by a year due to covid). Denver has already announced it will bid for 2030. But of the previous 10 Games four have been held in US cities and I think Denver, despite a lot of backing, may miss out for that one reason.

As I wrote a few days ago, there has been no news about Taipei perhaps applying to host the Games. With 200,000 marching in their annual Gay Pride Parades and with its having almost totally changed the island's approach to the LGBTQ community very significantly over the last 20 years, my gut feel is it would have a better chance of hosting than Bangkok. The host city will be announced some time next year.

[PeterRS]

Further to my earlier post, the Denver Bid Committee website has announced there are now only two finalists on the short list for the 2030 Games - Denver and Perth, Australia. Third on that list would have been Auckland, New Zealand. Officials from the Federation of Gay Games will make final visits to the sites next month and it is expected that the announcement of the 2030 winning city will now be made at the end of the next Games being held in Valencia, Spain next month.

https://www.denver.org/gay-games-2030/press-releases/denver-moves-closer-to-hosting-2030-gay-games-as-bid-field-reduces-to-two/

[hojacat]

3 hours ago, PeterRS said:

What a shame that no one seems to have attended the Pride March on Sunday! I was in Taipei that day but my partner went with some friends and they loved it, but it was the first one he has attended and so I don't think he had any expectations. Anyone know how many participated - i.e. marched? Khaosodenglish has a brief description along with a few photos. Other sites have some basic information. But I can find absolutely nothing about the numbers marching. And on google I find nothing from the Bangkok Post!

https://www.khaosodenglish.com/life/2025/06/01/thailand-kicks-off-pride-month-with-a-parade-in-bangkok/#google_vignette

The reason I think this is relatively important is that Bangkok has anounced it will be in the running to become the first Asian nation to host the 2030 Gay Games event. Actually it would not be the first. Hong Kong (yes, Hong Kong!) was co-host of the 2023 Games (postponed by a year due to covid). Denver has already announced it will bid for 2030. But of the previous 10 Games four have been held in US cities and I think Denver, despite a lot of backing, may miss out for that one reason.

As I wrote a few days ago, there has been no news about Taipei perhaps applying to host the Games. With 200,000 marching in their annual Gay Pride Parades and with its having almost totally changed the island's approach to the LGBTQ community very significantly over the last 20 years, my gut feel is it would have a better chance of hosting than Bangkok. The host city will be announced some time next year.

Gay Games are a much smaller event compared to World Prides. I remember the ones in HK took part in mid November, just two weeks after Taipei pride. I asked most of the people I met that weekend in Taipei if they were going there also. Only one Singaporean guy was planning to go, most didn't even know the event existed. My HK friends said there was pretty much no promotion in the city about it and that the only visible sign was a slight larger number of foreigners in clubs and saunas.

As for Taipei hosting them, if you see my other post about the world pride, I think they have no intention to apply anytime soon.

[PeterRS]

33 minutes ago, hojacat said:

I remember the ones in HK took part in mid November, just two weeks after Taipei pride. I asked most of the people I met that weekend in Taipei if they were going there also. Only one Singaporean guy was planning to go, most didn't even know the event existed. My HK friends said there was pretty much no promotion in the city about it

With respect, I think the Hong Kong Games were nothing like a good example. Please remember that Hong Kong bid for the Games back in 2016 and the city was awarded the exclusive right to host them in October 2017. Sixteen other cities around the world had been part of the bidding process. That surely is an indication of the amount of tourism revenues the Games can bring to a cty. People in Hong Kong at that time were overjoyed. But Hong Kong then was massively different from what it was soon to become. This was not primarily the result of the city's lock-down measures to combat covid, although these did push the Games back by a year. It was a result of huge political changes in the city following years of protests. 

In 2020, the laws were changed in Hong Kong. Basically the new National Security Law had a very distinct "I love China" element.  Hundreds of activists were rounded up and jailed, while others fled verseas where they remain. Beijing was determined that never again would Hong Kong permit demonstrations against Hong Kong government policy and actions. Briefly, it also did not want the Gay Games! But it was stuck with them. It attempted to have them moved out of Chinese territory, but failed. In February 2022, the leader of Hong Kong's bid stepped down. The FGG Committee then realised it had to do something or the Games might not even happen. They were probably right, for in the month prior to the Games, seven local politicians called for them to be banned as they might infringe on the National Security Law. Even before then, in June activists had called on the FGG to cancel the Hong Kong Games.

Before that political mess, the organisers had offered half the events to the city which had come second in the 2017 bidding, Guadalajara. By splitting the events into two in different continents ten thousand or so kms apart, the FGG basically shot itself in the foot. No spectators were going to spend hard-earned cash commuting between the two cities. Naturally they would choose one or the other.

With Hong Kong becoming politically far more dicey, it was inevitable that virtually all the spectators chose to go to Mexico. Besides, as @hojacat has rightly pointed out, with zero government desire then for Hong Kong to host the Games, it ensured that as little PR as possible was undertaken. Even some Hong Kong people did not know they were taking place!

In my earlier post, I got the date of the 2026 Valencia games slightly wrong. They start on 26 June and last for 12 days. An estimated 12,000 sports participants are expected along with up to 3,000 for the cultural events. 100,000 spectators are also expected. For the Games held in Paris in 2018, only 33% of spectators were French of which 18% were from the city of Paris. Of the remaining 67%, 33% came from the USA. Given these figures are from 7 years ago, I think they actually prove that the Gay Games can be a significant money spinner for the host cities., better even than the much shorter World Pride Events.

Taipei's Pride March certainly attracts huge crowds, but of the 200,000 marchers, certainlly the vast majority are from Taiwan. I can find no figures, but I expect the number of incoming tourists to be less than around 10%.

[a-447]

What?

My home city of Perth is bidding for the Gay Games?

That's news to me. How come I've never heard about this? 

[PeterRS]

On May 2, the FGG announced ten finalilsts in the bidding for the 2030 Games. This is what is called "The Long List" and it is eventually narrowed down to about 3, I believe. The Denver site claims that the list has been narrowed to 2 - Denver and Perth after Auckland bowed out. How the bid process narrowed so quickly I have no idea! And since Vancouver already hosted the 1990 Games, I cannot understand why it is back on the list!

https://www.denver.org/gay-games-2030/press-releases/denver-moves-closer-to-hosting-2030-gay-games-as-bid-field-reduces-to-two/

• Adelaide, Australia

• Auckland, New Zealand

• CapeTown, South Africa

• Denver, Colorado, USA

• Edmonton, Alberta, Canada

• Frankfurt, Germany

• Melbourne, Australia

• Perth, Australia

• Taipei, Taiwan

• Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

[Tomtravel]

Pride was on a hot and sunny day. I was at the pool and delayed my participation due to the heat, so I thought I go around 4-5 pm. Then it started to rain, so I delayed my departure again. Then I decided to visit the final party at the Central World. Then some other things…and eventually I was maybe at 9 pm at the final concert which ended 10 pm. The band was fun and the crowd was thin.

I had good intentions but life happens..

German media said pride had 300k participants which was all time highest. So all good.

[PeterRS]

1 hour ago, Tomtravel said:

German media said pride had 300k participants which was all time highest. So all good.

Participants is one thing - and a good one at that. But I wonder how many took part in the Pride March. That's also a key issue.

[Tomtravel]

So here is the direct translation:

„For the first time, more than 300,000 people marched through the Thai capital at the Bangkok Pride on Sunday - Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra was also in the middle of it.“

[PeterRS]

21 minutes ago, Tomtravel said:

So here is the direct translation:

„For the first time, more than 300,000 people marched through the Thai capital at the Bangkok Pride on Sunday - Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra was also in the middle of it.“

300,000 marchers would be absolutely amazing. Somehow I find that number hard to believe -  but then I was not there. Only a couple of years ago the numbers were barely in the thousands.

PS: There is a vdo on an Indian website which clearly shows there were lots of marchers and lots of spectators. It merely states that thousands marched, but from the video it looks quite a bit more. Excellent news.

As for the number 300,000, this is not a  fact. It was merely a guesstimate given of the number of likely participants on another website thaipr.net and provided in advance by Waaddao Ann Chumaporn, Chair and Founder of Naruemit Pride and organizer of Bangkok Pride Festival 2025. He said, "We expect more than 300,000 Thai and international participants to join the parade."

It took Taipei about a dozen years to build up to the 100,000 marchers mark. I guess that Bangkok probably had somewhere between 25,000 and 50,000. Even so, that in itself would be a huge advance on previous years.

https://www.wionews.com/videos/thousands-march-in-bangkok-s-annual-pride-parade-1748781327294

https://www.thaipr.net/en/life_en/3605358

[PeterRS]

16 hours ago, PeterRS said:

On May 2, the FGG announced ten finalilsts in the bidding for the 2030 Games.

Apologies again. The date I wrote is the one given on the official FGG site. But surprisingly it lists no year. In fact, the ten original finalists were decided in May LAST year. Hence Denver and Perth only just now being announced as the two finalists for 2030.

[PeterRS]

Finally a video has been posted on the web which shows what a really fun day Sunday was.

And some photos also from the web

Photo: Peerapon Boonyakiat/SOPA Images/LightRocket/Getty Images

Photo: The Nation

Photo: Dodge Photography

Photo: Dodge Photography

[10tazione]

3 hours ago, PeterRS said:

Finally a video has been posted

The video is from 2 year ago.

About participants, their website claims:

2022: 20.000+

2023 100.000+

2024 250.000+

https://parade.bangkokpride.org/

[hojacat]

21 hours ago, PeterRS said:

I think they actually prove that the Gay Games can be a significant money spinner for the host cities., better even than the much shorter World Pride Events.

Actually the world pride is always scheduled as a two weeks event, with several activities on each day. As you can see from their history and the numbers you brough about the attendants to the ones in Paris, the Gay Games are an event mostly popular in North America and to a lesser degree in Europe, and even there probably to an over 40 age group. Outside those areas many people might not have heard of it, when on the other hand everyone knows what a pride parade is. so HK should have done double the usual promotion to neighboring markets just to familiarize them with the concept of Gay Games. Of course, co hosting it with a city which is much closer and cheaper to probably the biggest visitor's market of the event, were not going to help HK with the attendance number for the games, no matter the political situation in the city.

I think Bangkok should definitely bid for the world pride in 2030 when they have a high chance of getting it though I don't think June would be the best month to host it in there if they are indeed going to host them.

[PeterRS]

3 hours ago, 10tazione said:

The video is from 2 year ago.

About participants, their website claims:

2022: 20.000+

2023 100.000+

2024 250.000+

https://parade.bangkokpride.org/

My apologies for stupidly not noticing the date on that video. It came from a website posted 3 days ago and I failed to check. I suppose my gaze was concentrated on those handsome guys rather than the text at the top!

Not having been at the Parade last Sunday, I cannot dispute their figures. But I find them difficult to believe. I know how complex the Taipei Parades are in terms of organisation and sheer numbers. But I am delighted the Parade here has certainly become hugely more popular. 

[PeterRS]

21 hours ago, hojacat said:

Actually the world pride is always scheduled as a two weeks event, with several activities on each day. 

I think Bangkok should definitely bid for the world pride in 2030 when they have a high chance of getting it though I don't think June would be the best month to host it in there if they are indeed going to host them.

I thank you for letting us know more of the detail of World Pride events. I, for one, had no idea they lasted for two weeks. So I agree with you. Bangkok could gain a bonanza of visitors if it applied to host World Pride in 2030. From the little research I have done, it seems it need not necessarily be held in June since the Sydney event in 2023 was held in February (was that due in any way to covid, I wonder?) If the World Pride organisers could agree to Bangkok being held in mid-November I can imagine a massive tourism influx.

[hojacat]

44 minutes ago, PeterRS said:

I thank you for letting us know more of the detail of World Pride events. I, for one, had no idea they lasted for two weeks. So I agree with you. Bangkok could gain a bonanza of visitors if it applied to host World Pride in 2030. From the little research I have done, it seems it need not necessarily be held in June since the Sydney event in 2023 was held in February (was that due in any way to covid, I wonder?) If the World Pride organisers could agree to Bangkok being held in mid-November I can imagine a massive tourism influx.

No, it has nothing to do with COVID. Late February to early March is when Sydney traditionally hosts its gay pride event, officially known as the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.

The WorldPride event that took place during the COVID emergency was held in Copenhagen, in mid-August. I remember Denmark had lifted most restrictions, including the mask mandate, just a week before Pride. People were happy simply to gather in groups again, but the event was overall much more toned down compared to the one before it in New York City and the one after in Sydney.

June is when the Stonewall Riots occurred in NYC, which is why most cities hold their Pride parades during that month. However, some major gay destinations celebrate Pride in other months—for example, Berlin Pride is at the end of July, and Amsterdam Pride is in early August. I assume Tokyo and Bangkok want to align with the "June Pride Month" theme and have scheduled their parades accordingly. For Tokyo, even though it can be a bit hot, the weather is still manageable. But for Bangkok, it would definitely make more sense to host Pride at a different time of year.

At least I'm glad Taipei continues to hold its Pride at the end of October. Even though there's always a risk of rain, it's a much nicer experience to walk in cooler weather than if it were held in June.

[PeterRS]

5 minutes ago, hojacat said:

For Tokyo, even though it can be a bit hot, the weather is still manageable.

When I lived in Tokyo, I had been used to Hong Kong's summer heat and humidity for more than a decade. So the heat did not concern me. But I found the summer humidity in Tokyo in even worse than Hong Kong and Bangkok. If out and about you can always cool down a bit by popping into a cafe or shopping mall. But you can do little about the outside humidity. And it's not the actual degree of humidity that is the problem - it is the relative humidity. Dehumidifiers were vital in apartments. In my view any major outdoor event in Tokyo would have to be end July at the earliest - like the 2001 Olympics.