Panama Pride  parties and calls for equal rights marriage 

The Pride march promoted by the LGTBI+ community in Panama called on Saturday to respect the diversity of families, remembering that marriage between a man and a woman is not the only reality, demanding that a civil union between same-sex couples.

Hundreds of people dressed in rainbows partied in Casco Viejo dressed in rainbows dancing and parading to the sound of music, traditional music pouring out of car speakers.

“It is a moment of celebration, of being able to be free, of being able to walk in the streets, to exercise our right to free movement, freedom of association, freedom of expression, non-discrimination,” The president of Fundación Iguales, Iván Chanis, told EFE.

Fundación Iguales is one of the Panamanian organizations participating in the march organized by World Pride, and aware that the parade is also “a political moment”, repeated the motto they have raised in recent years: “We are all family.”, the activist recalled the “so untraditional reality” in Panama, where among births in the country, 87.8% occur between unmarried parents, for what “it is important to have this conversation about the concept of families”.

Chanis explained that although they have “every day greater social support, Panama is stuck,  in the generation of public policies, laws, and political decisions, because at the end of the day, there is the will of the decision-makers or with political power to do the right thing, and to do the right thing is to strengthen democracy while respecting human rights”.