Santo Domingo Pride Parade

An annual parade of queer performers and community in a cavalcade of vans, motorcycles and crowds on foot, singing, dancing, drinking, and cheering. Expect dazzling drag queens, glittering costumes, enchanting performances and an absolutely electric atmosphere. You’ll also see vans and pick-up trucks packed to the roof with groups of lower-key members of the LGBTQ+ community, daring to see and be seen and just generally having a great time.

The parade kicks off near the Colonial Zone and winds to a park near the Malecón - a stone esplanade that follows the Rio Ozama river as it winds through the center of Santo Domingo. Once at the park, the parade transforms into a live music concert featuring a stage surrounded by a constellation of little ‘kikis’.

Afterparties are hosted throughout the city. If you don’t get invited to a private afterparty first, look out for one of the commercial ones - event companies like Draguealo and GAFlabs take over night clubs for the night, for the local LGBTQ+ community to dance, drink and sing the night away with pride.

Established in 2007, the Santo Domingo parade is an opportunity to bring the LGBTQ+ community together, unified in a walk for pride, for justice, for absent friends, and for human rights. As of 2021, LGBTQ+ Dominicans do not enjoy many of the rights of straight couples, including the rights to marriage or civil partnership, or adoption. While a few laws have been introduced since 2000 that ostensibly prevent discrimination on the basis of gender identity or sexual orientation, the community is still far from equal rights in law or in practice.

During Pride Month though, and especially on the day of the Pride Parade, support for the community is on display throughout the capital. For the past few years, as a symbol of solidarity with the Dominican LGBTQ+ community, the US embassy unfurls the rainbow flag around the time of the parade.