SÃO PAULO – Around 1,000 lesbians and bisexuals marched through the streets of São Paulo on Saturday for the city’s 12th Caminhada de Lésbicas e Bissexuais, better known as the Caminhada Lésbica, or Lesbian Walk.

This year’s march was dubbed “Lesbians and bisexuals fighting against machismo and violence”.

See photos of the event or watch a video

Starting on the city’s central avenue, Avenida Paulista, the march descended through the streets to the Largo do Arouche – where a concert was put on, as part of the city’s month of LGBT festivities.

São Paulo’s Caminhada Lésbica enters its 12th year. On the right is Edlene Paim, the woman who organised the first walk in 2002. Photo by Ben Tavener

The march touched on a number of themes, including calls for: the criminalisation of LGBT-phobia; the legal recognition of all genders; an end to LGBT crimes, violence against women, and Latin America’s machista culture which condones or minimises cases of rape.

The city’s LGBT month culminates in the annual Gay Parade on Sunday 4 May – the world’s biggest gay pride event which regularly draws crowds upwards of two million revellers.

This year’s LGBT month is calling for homophobia to be officially and legally recognised as a crime – something which has faced stern resistance from right-wing members of Congress, particularly those aligned with Evangelical and other religious factions.

More on São Paulo’s 18th Gay Parade, which this year is earlier due to the World Cup, tomorrow…