RIDE FOR PRIDE

LIME UNVEILS ITS “RIDE FOR PRIDE”: A BIKE ROUTE TRACING THE MEMORY OF THE LGBTQ+ STRUGGLE IN PARIS
For Pride March 2026, Lime invites the French to (re)discover Paris differently: in the saddle, at their own pace, for a ride under the sign of pride.

An 11-kilometer route to cycle through history
11 kilometers, 10 stages to retrace the memories of the Parisian LGBTQ+ struggle, from the streets of the Marais to the heights of Pigalle, Lime has imagined a lively walk of 11 kilometers and 10 stages through two centuries of a history, which is also that of Paris.

Step 1: The starting point: rue Montorgueil, at number 67. A discreet plaque there recalls the names of Jean Diot and Bruno Lenoir, the last two Frenchmen condemned to death for their homosexuality, in 1750. A starting point that makes you dizzy, and gives meaning to the path traveled.
Steps 2 and 3: Activist struggle. A short bike ride is all it takes to reach 25 rue Michel-le-Comte in the 3rd arrondissement, where another plaque pays tribute to Daniel Defert, a French sociologist and AIDS activist. He founded AIDES, the first French AIDS organization, after the death of his partner, the philosopher Michel Foucault. Just a few meters away, at 63 rue Beaubourg, the LGBTQ+ Center Paris Île-de-France still resonates with this same activist energy: dozens of organizations work there daily to ensure that hard-won rights are never taken for granted.
Step 4: Dance to protest. In the narrow streets of the Marais, with a stop at 13 rue au Maire, lies Le Tango. One of the most iconic venues of Parisian LGBTQIA+ nightlife, this historic Marais dance hall has spanned eras, from popular dances to queer culture, before being reborn after a closure that worried its regulars. It has survived repression, wars, and epidemics without ever closing its doors.
Stages 5, 6, and 7: Resistance. In the heart of the 4th arrondissement, stages 5, 6, and 7 are three squares now bearing names that tell the story of the world. Stonewall Riot Square recalls that it all began on the night of June 28, 1969, when patrons of a gay bar in New York refused to be taken into custody without a fight. On this same square, a plaque honors Gilbert Baker, the artist who hand-stitched the first rainbow flag in 1978—a symbol that has since continued to cross borders. A stone's throw away, at the intersection of Rue des Archives and Rue de la Verrerie, Harvey Milk Square is named after this openly gay American politician, assassinated in 1978 after eleven months in office in San Francisco—eleven months during which he tirelessly fought for anti-discrimination legislation. A little further on, at the corner of Rue des Blancs-Manteaux and Rue des Archives, Place Ovida Delect pays tribute to this transgender writer who, before writing under her female name, had infiltrated a collaborationist network for the Resistance, before being arrested, tortured, and deported to Neuengamme. Three squares, three lives, three different ways of standing tall.
Step 8: Speaking Out. The walk then heads back towards the 10th arrondissement, along the Saint-Martin canal, to reach the Cleews Vellay Promenade. Cleews Vellay, president of Act Up-Paris, who died of AIDS at the age of 29 in 1994, embodies a generation that chose anger over silent mourning. Founded in 1989, modeled on the New York movement, Act Up-Paris revolutionized activism in France—both in the streets and in the media—by forcing public authorities to confront an epidemic they preferred to ignore. This walk, in a neighborhood that is now diverse and vibrant, serves as a reminder that the freedom to walk here comes at a price, a price others have paid before us.
Step 9: Making History. The route then heads north to reach Boulevard de Clichy. The Promenade Coccinelle stretches along its central reservation, between numbers 2 and 16. Dancer, singer, actress, Coccinelle was the first French celebrity to officially change her legal gender in 1959 – a change championed by Robert Badinter. Inaugurated in 2017, this promenade is the first street in the world to bear the name of a transgender person.
Step 10: Art to Remember. Finally, the route ends with the 10th and final symbolic step a little further up, at 10 rue Cauchois, in front of the Copi plaque. An Argentinian playwright, cartoonist for Charlie Hebdo and Hara-Kiri, and partner of Guy Hocquenghem, he made Paris and its freedom his chosen homeland, and the fight for gay visibility his way of life.

Translated automatically - see original description in French