English-Language Media Wildly Overestimate Brazil ‘Gay Pride’ March Numbers, Underestimate ‘March for Jesus’ Numbers

The following is excerpted from a LifesiteNews.com article titled, “English-Language Media Wildly Overestimated Brazil Gay Pride Numbers, Underestimated Pro-Family March
Brazilian Gay Pride March vs March for Jesus: A Comparative Analysis.”

By Matthew Cullinan Hoffman, for LifesiteNews.com

SAO PAULO, June 14, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Some three million Christians marched through the streets of the Brazilian metropolis of Sao Paulo last week, only three days before the annual “Gay Parade”, chanting slogans against homosexuality and affirming their religious beliefs.  The “March for Jesus”, held June 7th, was organized by a major evangelical protestant ministry in Brazil and included over thirty live bands playing religious music, many placed on top of flatbed trucks that rolled through the main avenues of the city. 

One minister led the crowd, paraphrasing a traditional Latin exorcism prayer with “Vade retro, Satan!”, adding “Vade retro, homosexuality!” (Get back, Satan! Get back homosexuality!).  Although the Associated Press, Reuters, and other English-speaking news services claimed that only a million people attended the march, the mainstream Brazilian press widely reported that three million attended, citing the Policia Militar (Military Police).

When questioned by the media, marchers denied hostility towards homosexuals, and expressed concern for their well-being.  “Through the Bible, we know that God doesn’t agree with what they do,” members of one church group from the Vila Carrão neighborhood of Sao Paulo told the Brazilian news service G1.  “We condemn their actions, and never the people. What we want is for them to know God.”  …

Although the mainstream media generally quoted the parade organizers’ estimate of 3.5 million attendees uncritically, both Reuters (quoted in The Australian) and the Brazilian news service Ultimo Segundo stated that the police only counted one million, while admitting that thousands more probably remained uncounted on side streets. 

Also in stark contrast to the March for Jesus, this year’s Gay Parade enjoyed heavy support from government and affiliated business institutions in Brazil.  Unlike Parades in years past, this year’s event was sponsored by Brazil’s state energy company, Petrobras, as well as the state-owned Caixa Economica Federal Bank.

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