Thousands of marchers will converge at the Zoo Lake on Saturday to take part in the 19th annual lesbian and gay parade. The march will be followed by a party in the park.

THE Zoo Lake will come alive on Saturday as thousands of gay activists dressed in colourful outfits take to the streets to celebrate the 19th gay parade.

Under the theme “Love not Hate”, the will seek to spread the message of tolerance for people involved in same-sex relationships.

“We decided on this theme because this year, a number of black lesbians were murdered because of their sexual orientation and we are trying to encourage people not to discriminate one another because of sexual orientations they choose” said co- chairman of Jo’burg Pride, Tanya Harford.

According to Harford, a ‘community village’ will also be constructed to house representatives from the gay community and NGOs such as Gay and Lesbian Archive (Gala), OUT and Behind the Musk to pay homage to the victims of homophobic hate crimes.

The entertainment line up will feature Elena Afrika, Suoeshnie, Poppy Ntshongwana, DJ Euphonik, DJ Christina, DJ Fix Grant and Anele who will be the MC for the day,

There will also be stalls where people can buy refreshments. One of the stalls will be reserved for members of the public to undergo voluntary HIV counselling and testing free of charge. Substance abuse counselling will also be offered at this stall.

Harfford encourages the public to come to this event, as it will be entertaining and informative. The parade will be taking place at the Zoo Lake sports club. It will start at 11am moving from Zoo Lake along Jan Smuts Avenue, up Jellicoe Avenue, along Oxford Road, back down Bolton Road, and along Jan Smuts Avenue as it winds its way back to Zoo Lake at 12:30 and then it will be party time until 6pm. People are encouraged to come at 10am before the parade starts.

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