video transcript

The sound of celebration at Rio De Janeiro's Copacabana beach. Some 500,000 revelers crowded the city's famous beachside avenue for the annual gay pride parade. And with half a million people comes a lot of skin, colorful feathers and dancing. But it hasn't always been this way in Brazil. The country has the largest population of Roman Catholics in the world -- and for many generations religion and gay rights did not go hand in hand. Gay rights activist Jorge Ribeiro: SOUNDBITE: Activist Of The Arco-Iris Gay Rights Group, Jorge Ribeiro, saying (Portuguese) "Many rights which we have been conquering little by little. So our battle is not over yet, it continues. But thank God, over these past 17 years, we had many victories." The biggest victory of them all came last year, when Brazil's Supreme Court legally recognized gay partnerships. Currently activists are pressuring the government to approve a bill that outlaws discrimination against homosexuals which the rainbow-chasers here say is their basic right.