Between Politics and Party

In this concluding chapter we recap the main findings of our study of Pride parades in seven European countries (Czech Republic, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK) and Mexico. We return to the question raised in the introduction. How are the inherent tensions within LGBT movements provisionally smoothed over in Pride parades in a temporary show of unity? The conflicts that we nonetheless observed are reflected upon, in particular those between lesbians and gay men, and how they were resolved or, for that matter, left unresolved, as well as the conflict between commercialization and politicization. The year 2020 will mark Pride parades’ fiftieth anniversary, fifty years after the first parades were held in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. And indeed Pride parades and LGBT politics in general have come a long way since their inauspicious beginnings. Perhaps most remarkably, Pride parades in Europe, as in Latin America, have become widely regarded as a “litmus test” that the country hosting them shares the Western liberal values of human rights, tolerance and freedom. In conclusion, the geopolitical, as well as the domestic political roles, of Pride parades and LGBT politics are discussed. These are roles that were probably inconceivable for the Pride pioneers.