A n n a L u n d b e r g Summary: This article analyses the Stockholm Pride parade as an effective contemporary political stage, built on laughter and festivity. Taking its political point of departure in what is seen as being highly private and intimate, sexuality and the sexed body, the parade turns upside down one of the most central ideas of modernity: the dichotomy of public and private. Combining the theory of carnival laughter with queer theory, the article illustrates the way in which humour and politics work together in this contemporary blend of politics and popular culture.He is young and blonde, with rosy cheeks, bright eyes, and a well-groomed goatee. He appears to be happy, beaming in the sunshine. Slightly chubby, indeed florid, he looks like an old-fashioned Swedish impersonation of the very picture of health. Clothing: Swedish woman's traditional folk outfit, with blue ankle-length skirt, white blouse, and a colourful apron with traditional embroidery. He has dark blue stockings, and a traditional white bonnet on his head. Shoes: dark blue leather, of a sort you would describe as comfortable, usually worn by women over sixty. Looking at him, I think I too should look just like that in a traditional Swedish woman's folk outfit, although without the beard of course. He seems confident when he stares straight into my camera, loudly bursting into song: ''Hallelujah, praise the Lord!'' Placing one foot out in front of the other, grabbing the apron with a coquettish gesture, and at the same time giving the passing girl a flirtatious glance, he has completed the picture of carnival, and its jesting ambivalence. He is extrovert, he is excessive, he is prepared. Someone is giggling in the background. The parade of pride and joy can begin, and I am there to take part in it.