Giant Rainbow Will Light Up Paulista Avenue Sunday to Honor LGBT Pride Parade

SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – Global Rainbow, a laser light installation representing the colors of the rainbow, will light up Paulista Avenue on Sunday, June 14th, in tribute to the LGBT Pride Parade that would normally be celebrated that day. As the parade date has been moved to November due to the coronavirus pandemic, the City Hall, through the Municipal Department of Culture, decided not to allow the traditional Pride Month to go unnoticed.

The light cannons were conceived by Puerto Rican artist Yvette Mattern, also nicknamed Rainbow Girl, well known in several countries since her first exhibition in 2009.

Here in Brazil, they will be installed on top of a building in the Paraíso neighborhood facing Consolação Street, thus covering the length of Paulista avenue. The rainbow will be visible up to 60 km away and its beams will be projected in seven different colors. The event will last 3 hours, starting at 7 PM and ending at 10 PM. The lights will be on for 15 minutes and then off for five.

The Global Rainbow is part of a campaign by Doritos, a Pepsi brand, which will donate R$1 million to organizations supporting the LGBTQIA+ cause. The lights have already colored the skies of many major cities such as New York, London, Paris, Berlin, and Beijing.

The new LGBT Pride Parade dates are below:

November 23rd, 2020 – Press Conference
November 27th, 2020 – Citizenship Award in Respect of Diversity
November 28th, 2020 – Diversity Cultural Fair
November 29th, 2020 – 24th SP LGBT+ stop.

“As we know, the São Paulo LGBT Parade, in addition to people from the city of São Paulo, also welcomes tourists from Brazil and abroad, and concerned about the safety of our population in light of the pandemic, we advise all people not to buy airline or land travel tickets, organize excursions or book hotels; do nothing at this time, plan only from September 2020, when in fact we will have more information/guidance from the State Government, the City Hall and health bodies regarding the pandemic”. – says the official Parade Facebook page.

The chosen date had previously been November 22nd and then rescheduled for June 14th, before the pandemic.