Eurovision: Top 5 European Prides

5. Manchester Pride 2009 | August 21-31, 2009 manchesterpride.com
Highlights
Big Weekend (August 28-31, 2009): Parties, pretty people, and a market full of gifts, toys, and clothes fill the final weekend of this boisterous city?s biggest gay festival. Unlike on this side of the Atlantic, Manchester?s Pride even features stands recruiting LGBT revelers to the British armed forces.

Parade (August 29, 2009): With its theme of Heroes, 2009?s parade will sashay through the streets in super style.

4. Pride Barcelona | June 20-28, 2009

www.pridebarcelona.org
Highlights
Parade and party (June 28, 2009): Over 50,000 people are expected to witness the first ever Barcelona Gay Pride parade, which will start at Pla?a Universitat and then follow Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes and Avinguda Maria Cristina to the elegant Palau Nacional, the venue for Pride Barcelona?s closing party.

Fire! LGBT film festival (June 20-28, 2009): The nine-day-long festival has a packed program showing the latest LGBT cinema.

2. Berlin Gay Pride Parade (Christopher Street Day) | June 27, 2009

www.csd-berlin.de
Highlights
Parade (June 27, 2009): The enormous parade is the top highlight of this exuberant celebration in the German capital. It?s been parading through the city since 1979, kicking off on Unter den Linden and marching through Potsdamer Platz to the Siegess?ule Victory Column.

Rally and party (June 27, 2009): The parade finishes with a spectacular closing rally at the Siegess?ule, where hundreds of thousands celebrate, dance, and party till dawn.

3. EuroPride 2009: Zurich | May 2-June 7, 2009

Though the rainbow flags have been stored and the confetti swept away, EuroPride 2009 was a gigantic success and deserved an honorable mention in this list. Start planning now for EuroPride 2010 in Warsaw!

1. Pride London Festival Fortnight | June 20-July 5, 2009

www.pridelondon.org
Highlights
Parade (July 4, 2009): With its theme of ?Come Out and Play,? this year?s Pride has an upbeat, fun tone. Trotting off from Baker Street at 1 p.m., the parade will sashay down Oxford Street and Regent Street, scampering through Piccadilly and ending up at Trafalgar Square.

Gay Icons at the National Portrait Gallery (July 2-October 18, 2009): With works chosen by British gay icons such as Elton John, Jackie Kay, Billie Jean King, Ian McKellen, and Sarah Waters, this exhibition gives gallery goers the opportunity to gaze on gay icons including David Hockney, Quentin Crisp, Ellen DeGeneres, and Princess Diana.

Pride at Trafalgar Square (July 4, 2009): Head to the heart of Europe?s most dynamic city for an afternoon of entertainment on the Main Stage in Trafalgar Square.