The 27th Pride March brought together more than 25,000 people from LGBT communities in the pink city. For the walkers, a single watchword: “Be yourself and love whoever you want”.

The rainbow flag is back on the streets of Toulouse. As in Caen, Marseille, London or other French municipalities, the pink city welcomes, this Saturday, July 2, the march of pride.

A day of celebration to reaffirm the rights of LGBT people. A day, too, to realize how far we have come. “The years and years of demonstrations, struggles and visibility have meant that the law has changed and that we have been able to adopt a child” explains Laurent, father of a young girl.

Indeed, thanks to marriage for all, Laurent and his companion, Nicolas, were able to become parents by adopting Leïla, when she was five months old. So for the couple, it was also important to come and participate in the family pride march. The opportunity to pound the pavement again.

“I started activism when I was 18, it was also then that I discovered my homosexuality, says Nicholas. I joined associations when I was a student and when I started working I moved on.”

Like this family, thousands of people gathered everywhere in France and in the streets of Toulouse. Conscious of the evolutions acquired thanks to the previous fights, the walkers of a day do not remain less on their guards as for the future.

“New questions arise, regrets a participant of the march. In the United States, they just withdrew the federal abortion law and they are talking about marriage. We hope that it will keep the right direction and that we will not go back for these chosen ones too”.

Laurent particularly remembers a significant period for the homosexual community. “During the marriage for all, we started to see thousands of people who took to the streets to explain to us that we are monsters, pedophiles, creatures of the devil… It was immensely violent” he remembers.

May the Toulouse LGBT community be reassured. She is not alone, as approximately 25,000 people were reported during the Pride march.