Vamos Colmbia Tour Celebrates Gay Pride in Bogota with IGLTA party

Gay Pride has come to Bogota Colombia with a bang!
Friday, June 26, 2009, Vamos Colombia Tour hosted a gay pride party in Bogota, Colombia, to celebrate with guests, friends, supporters, sponsors and others in the travel industry. The event also served to introduce IGLTA (International Gay Lesbian Travel Association) to the community in Bogota, Colombia.

VCT thanks its sponsors for the event for making it possible, as well as all who attended. The event was held at the High Park Hotel, Bogota's only hotel dedicated to the LGBT community. As you can see in the photos below, models demonstrated some of Bogota's home-grown fashions which are made locally with the gay community in mind.

The owners and a guest at High Park Hotel, Bogota, Colombia, with Walter Rey (in tie) of Vamos Colombia Tour:

Gay Pride Events Begin in Bogota, Colombia

This being June, Bogota, Colombia is hosting its share of gay/lesbian pride events, in anticipation of the parade to be held Sunday June 28, 2009.

Vamos Colombia Tour, an IGLTA member, attended a party hosted by Bogota's gay radio program this past week in Bogota. The event was held at Teatron , the largest gay club in Bogota which holds several thousand people (yes that is what we meant to say) on several floors including a roof top terrace.
Info on the event in Spanish at
http://www.planb.com.co/evento-foro/fiesta-aniversario-eden-radio/4394.aspx

More info as it develops

check out info on Bogota's gay pride at
http://www.myspace.com/sungaybogota

Gay Pride in Bogota, Colombia, 2009

Gay Pride arrives in Bogota Colombia in June of 2009, and Vamos Colombia Tour is there!

The theme is "Discrimination Based on Sexual Orientation or Gender Identity is NOT a Game"

This year's gay pride parade promises to be a big as ever, and the LGBT community in Colombia has a lot to celebrate. In the past year, the courts in Colombia have expanded gay rights (including the right to give benefits to your same-sex domestic partner in a civil union), and the gay community has had more exposure than ever. Of course this exposure always comes with a backlash in the form of homophobia and at times violence. This is why having such events as a gay pride parade which is sponsored in part by the city and which goes through the heart of town and ends at the main city plaza with a rally is so important.

While we in the US and other countries are fighting for the right to marry, those in Colombia are still fighting for basic rights, and making great progress. Participating in Bogota's gay pride parade is an act of courage for many in Colombia still coming out and raising awareness in the general population.

Vamos Colombia Tour caters to the LGBT community and believes in promoting the rights of the LGBT community at home and abroad, including of course in Colombia. For this reason we have a tour that allows visitors to be in Bogota for the Gay Pride celebration.

As well, Vamos Colombia Tour is hosting a party on the weekend of gay pride to celebrate with our guests as well as fellow members of the LGBT travel community (including current and future IGLTA members) and larger gay community in Colombia. If you are in Bogota on Friday June 26, we hope you can join us for the party which is at the Hotel High Park, Carrera 4, #58-58, in the Chapinero district of Bogota.

Check back here for updates on the gay pride celebration in Bogota, Colombia, 2009.
The parade itself is Sunday, June 28, 2009.

Info on events can be found here, and also at:
Colombia's gay guide:
http://www.guiagaycolombia.com/index.htm

Sungay which benefits Colombia Diversa has a myspace page with information:
http://www.myspace.com/sungaybogota

Updates on gay rights in Colombia are on the website of Colombia Diversa, one the main gay rights organizations in Colombia:
http://www.colombiadiversa.org/index.php?option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1

They also have a Facebook page:
http://eu-es.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6828846835&ref=share

An opinion piece (in Spanish) by a lesbian from Bogota appears on the website of vive.in, a mainstream entertainment and news website from El Tiempo, Bogota's principle newspaper.
http://bogota.vive.in/blogs/bogota/un_articulo.php?id_blog=3617441&id_recurso=450017791

The Bogota government even recognizes the LGBT community as part of the diversity of the city, and mentions the gay pride parade on this page:
http://www.culturarecreacionydeporte.gov.co/portal/node/113