Eighteen floats, with music, flags, go-go boys and drag queens, set out from
                 the main business boulevard, Avenida Paulista, to the city center for a colorful
                 market and stage show on a square that is home to many gay bars.

                 Organizers said they were expecting a turnout of 200,000 people, compared
                 with 120,000 last year, and a mere 2,000 in the first gay parade in 1996. Police
                 said about 180,000 people took part in the march, with more expected to join
                 the party later.

                 "It's a big success," said Andre Fischer, a leading gay activist and columnist for
                 the Folha de Sao Paulo daily. "It shows we are many, it gives the community a
                 greater visibility and makes others less afraid of gays."

                 As the floats rolled along to the sound of gay-culture disco classics such as the
                 Village People's "YMCA" and the Weather Girls' "It's Raining Men," bystanders
                 waved, blew kisses and joined in the dancing.

                 Sao Paulo's new, left-leaning mayor, Marta Suplicy, addressed the crowds,
                 saying she was proud of Sao Paulo's growing reputation as a gay-friendly city.

                 "People may be different but they have to have equal rights," said Suplicy, a
                 psychologist and former host of a TV talk show about sex.

                 Volunteers backed by the Health Ministry handed out free condoms, while
                 people danced and kissed under a giant 50-meter (yard) long canopy in the
                 colors of the rainbow, which has become a symbol of gay pride.

                 "Finally we have an event that matters all round Brazil and even abroad," said
                 Benjamim Lopes, who was holding one corner of the canopy.

                 According to Fischer, Sao Paulo's gay parade is now the world's
                 seventh-largest, after New York, San Francisco, London, Sydney, Montreal and
                 Paris.

                 "With 200,000 participants we'll be really close to Paris, " he said.

                 There was no sign of clashes with supporters of Sao Paulo's Corinthians soccer
                 team playing in Sunday's Brazilian Cup final on the other side of the city.

                 Police had beefed up their presence this year to 400 officers because
                 Corinthians fans usually celebrate victories on Avenida Paulista. In the end, the
                 Sao Paulo side lost 3-1 to southerners Gremio and so had nothing to celebrate.

                 Organizers said they wanted to draw as many types of people as possible. And
                 they did.

                 Maria Piedade, a bystander, stopped Miss Pantera, a scantily clad, towering
                 transsexual to have her pose for a photo. "Wow, just look at her. I wish I could
                 look like that," said the 38-year-old homemaker.

                 "The parade is important to show that gays are people just like everybody else,
                 we are not stereotypes, we don't just like to party, we have our rights and we
                 are willing to march for them," said Tatiana Calvo, a Sao Paulo photographer.
                 "It's important to advance our rights as citizens."

                  Copyright 2001 The Associated Press.