Known here as the Marche des Fiertés LGBT, this is Paris’ biggest street party: a message of tolerance, very loud techno, over 500,000 smiling participants, and – inevitably – some extravagant creatures. 🙂

It an afternoon quite unlike any other in our beautiful city. Gay Pride brings together gays, straights, families, grannies… everyone is welcome!

Which is not to say that the march doesn’t have its serious side. As well as the three-minutes silence observed at 4.30pm – to remind everyone that France still has 7,000 new cases of HIV infection per year – there’s also an official slogan, and this year’s doesn’t mince its words: “Pour l’Egalité ; en 2011 je marche, en 2012 je vote” – (For equality, in 2011 I’ll be in the march, in 2012 I’ll be at the ballot box – a reference to promises of equality made by president Nicolas Sarkozy that somehow fell by the wayside once he had been elected.

As for the route, it hasn’t changed. Everyone meets up at Montparnasse at 1.30pm on Saturday 25th June. Things kick off at 2pm down boulevard Montparnasse, then boulevard Saint Michel, boulevard Saint Germain and boulevard Henri IV, finishing on Place de la Bastille. If you’re at one of our hotels you’ll be just a few steps away from the spectacle!

For a bigger map, click here.Official Pride march organisers’ site: here