Although Europride had started a week ago and concluded Sunday, we did not arrive in Warsaw until Wednesday evening. We took a walk to Pride House in the Warsaw Old Town area to pick up gay maps and Europride program information. I have never been to pride outside of Chicago, and I noticed that the city of Warsaw hadn't made any effort to visibly promote the fact that they were hosting Europride. The only pride flags to be found around the city were at gay or gay-friendly bars and restaurants. It would have been a pleasant surprise to see rainbow flags lining some key streets like they do in Chicago, but since there isn't a gay neighborhood, maybe nobody thought of doing something like that.
The first of the Europride events we took part in took place on Thursday with a guided tour through a temporary exhibition about homoerotic art (although I want to point out, not pornography) at the National Museum, Warsaw (the Polish equivalent of an art Smithsonian). The exhibition often combines ancient art and modern art in a variety of mediums (ranging from traditional oil on canvas and sculpture to photography and video performance) on the same wall. Many of the pieces came from the museum's own collection and it was really quite surprising to see how so many works of art can be brought together from a museum's internal collections and displayed in a way that specifically excludes the traditional information we would normally be informed of to focus on how sexuality had an impact in these pieces of art. You can get some sense of the exhibition and have a look at specific pieces on their website. http://www.mnw.art.pl/index.php/en/temporary_exhibitions/exhibitions/art55.html
We sang a joint concert with the London Gay Mens Chorus on Friday at Sala Kongresowa (Poland's largest and premier concert hall in the Palace of Culture and Science). At first, I thought it was only mildly interesting to be singing in that concert hall. I have sung in some magnificent concert halls, but only one other national concert hall, while on tour with the Notre Dame Glee Club in Taipei. So, since a national concert hall was willing to host a university's glee club, I realized it must not be that difficult to get a slot for a night. As I thought about it more though, and reflected on the conservative political climate in Poland, I thought it was really amazing that the country of Poland would be so willing to allow a concert with two choruses that have gay in the chorus name at their most prestigious concert hall! Only 700-800 of the hall's nearly 3000 seats were filled, but all of those people watching us were delighted to see us since it is so unusual to have such a large gathering of out men in one place that is not a gay bar in Poland. Both choruses received many positive comments from attendees since the concert. I think that speaks to the powerful message we can bring as musicians--within Poland's conservative atmosphere, we served as ambassadors of pride and hope. I hope that our combination of serious music that established our credibility and campy songs that screamed 'gay' have provided some inspiration to the Polish GLBT community.
The Europride parade on Saturday was nothing like the corporate float/party Chicago's parade has become over the years. Although Poland decriminalized homosexuality in 1932 and was generally indifferent toward homosexuality during the period of communist rule, the atmosphere for GLBT people in Poland changed dramatically in 1989 with the fall of communism. With the rising political power of the Catholic church, the political situation led to a more repressive atmosphere for the GLBT community.
Warsaw's parade route was not lined with fences and significant crowd control like they do in Chicago. Everyone on the streets could move in and out of the parade route as they wished, and it was only the 2,000 police officers keeping people from crowding the street. Despite a start time at 13:00, the parade began at least a half hour late as hundreds of police officers worked on clearing a path for the parade. The parade route was actually changed midway through to shorten the length due to several delays along the parade route due to crowding and occasional protesting in the streets. Here you can see one example of anti-gay protesters creating their own parade in the street somewhere else in the city. I think it is interesting to note that the protest parade didn't have any spectators. All of the day's spectators seemed to be celebrating the day with us! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jdBna9xTMGk
The security situation was also interesting in that the police seemed generally unarmed other than a billy club, and there were also hundreds of riot police in full gear with more significant tools at their disposal should a situation turn for the worst. In this video, you can see the police surrounding some protesters who were on their way to block the parade route, around the time that the parade was supposed to get underway. A bit later in the video, you can see several gay and supportive spectators getting ready to view the parade and enjoying themselves in a spray of water. Dykes on Bikes opened the parade, as is tradition, and the semi stuck in the middle of the crowd is one of the first parade entries, although they clearly did not get themselves over to the correct staging area before being surrounded by a crowd since they are facing the wrong direction. I'm sure it took some time for the police to clear the way for the semi to get moving. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9aB0Kk9XwPo
While we waited, members of the Stockholm chorus were spat at, inconsiderately bumped in a sort of passive-aggressive way, given the finger, and I even heard one person shouting "Fuck Sweden" at the sight of the Swedish flag and our banner announcing us as the Stockholm Gaykör. The London chorus had a closer position to the start, and one of their members was hit by a stray egg thrown from protesters further ahead. Despite a start time at 13:00, the parade began about 40 minutes late as hundreds of police officers cleared a path through the spectators and protesters. Although I knew there was a heavy police presence, I did feel somewhat scared for my safety at the start of the parade, after experiencing some of the taunting while waiting for the police to clear a path for the parade. The crowd of people near the starting point allowed a path just a bit wider than a car, and a heavy police presence was nearby circling around one of several groups of protesters. It would only take one person with some sort of improvised bomb to cause some tremendous chaos...thankfully, nothing like that happened.
We performed a little flag routine repetitively along the entire parade route for several hours, taking brief breaks for water. Here's a few videos posted of us. Although the people posting the videos have very good intentions, I also used Google Translate to get an idea of what people were saying in the comments. I think there is still a lot of work to be done in promoting tolerance and human decency, and I hope that the Polish people are able to reach a point where they can agree to disagree in a respectful way.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rw3VPS3xoWk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxFT-vWR1Lo
Along the parade route, I was thrilled to see so many smiling faces and friendly waves, such a positive contrast from what some people have posted in the comments of those videos. Since there was no barrier separating us from the public, people were able to rush in to take photos and videos, and it made me feel proud to be in Warsaw participating in the parade and making a positive impression for thousands of people. Although the parade turnout was nowhere near Chicago's half million, the ten thousand or so parade spectators (it's tough to know for sure since so many people joined in the parade) stirred up a lot of positive energy during the afternoon. Since the spectators followed the parade along the entire route, there was a short but fun dance party at the end of the parade in a big square as the tractor trailers with giant sound systems competed with each other for street dancers before departing the area.
In addition to the chorus, Sweden was represented by at least two other groups. A small performing group from Stockholm called the Freddie Mercury choir marched ahead of us, and the organization for gay Swedish police officers marched directly in front of our group, and although they were unarmed, it did add a bit to my sense of security.
Overall, my impression of Poland is that the deep historical context surrounding the last hundred or so years has had a profound impact on people's attitudes, but at the same time, people will generally treat each other with respect, even if they hold an opposing view on homosexuality.
The Stockholm Pride Parade is in two weeks, and I expect a completely different atmosphere. Pride week starts in one week and there are many events planned throughout the week, sort of as if Chicago's pride month seminars, workshops, and documentary film festivals were condensed into one week, culminating with the Stockholm pride parade on Saturday the 31st of July (and various smaller events continuing on Sunday as well). I have already started to see taxis with Stockholm Pride stickers, and from what I've heard, it is pretty likely that the number of people coming to see the pride parade will rival the number of people who flooded the streets a month ago when the crown princess got married. I'm certain that it will be an exciting week and a nice break from Stockholm's smallish gay scene (simply because tolerance is so widespread here, it feels like GLBT people do not feel the same sense of needing to have their own places to associate--it's just as typical for a gay couple or group of gays to hang out with each other at a straight place as a gay place).
The attached photos are some fun action shots and definitely clearer than the YouTube videos. You can see the Palace of Culture and Science in the background of the photo where we are tossing our flags in the air. I'm the one in the middle wearing shorts in that photo, caught holding my tangled flag when it should be up in the air! I'm also in the photo where we are marching forward.
