On Sunday, May 21st I attended the Gay Pride Parade in Chisinau.
I arrived at 11:50, and a few rubber-neckers were already beginning to crust around the edges of the police barricade. I entered at the left corner of Bucuresti and Ismail streets. This was the only point where someone beckoned for those who would join – how did they choose us? Did I just look nice?
Groans and clacks now ricochet by the lake in the name of progress. Comrat, a town of many ethnicities and varied allegiances, has recently begun constructing a hotel with the financial aid of bosom-friend Turkey. The first Turkish-sponsored project, which halted and stuttered under resistance from pro-Russian factions, was a water purification scheme.1 Comrat’s metal-heavy waters were a late-Soviet era catalyst for health problems, and it wasn’t until 1999 that the program finally got off the ground.2 But the area has since managed support from many donors, and is leveraging well. This April, the town began preparing for the Turkish delegation and the Moldovan diplomats who met to sweep in the future.