Parades to demonstrate gay pride may be a well-established fact of life in cities such as Paris and Berlin – but this is not the case in Sion. In this Catholic stronghold, which is also capital of the ruggedly mountainous Swiss canton of Valais, a group of six women and a man, led by Marianne Bruchez, dared to organise the first gay parade ever held in this small provincial town. The date: July 2001.