Thousands turned out to watch the wedding of a trans woman and her longtime boyfriend at Pride in a small town in Brazil.

Well-known couple Erica and Jorge are from the small city of Franco da Rocha where they work as scavegers, carting 400kgs of recyclable garbage in Brazil’s south-east every day.

Erica confided in her dream of a wedding to Valeria Rodrigues who is the director of Instituto Nice, a local non-governmental organisation devoted to “the social and professional integration and the promotion of the citizenship of Transexuals, Travestis, Gays, Lesbians and Bisexuals throughout Brazil.”

“I asked [her], ‘What is your dream? Tell us, I feel powerless to not be able to do something for an equal,” Rodrigues told Brazilian news outlet Estadao, recalling her first chat with Erica. “She said, ‘My dream is to marry because I feel that I will not last long and I’m afraid my companion will be helpless and, if we marry, he can at least be assured of a corner for him to rest,’” Rodrigues said.

Instituto Nice decided to throw the couple a lavish wedding as a way to mark the opening of the city’s second Pride parade.

Erica has always dreamed of getting married, she had not realised that she could update her gender markers on her birth certificate without having gender affirming surgery.

Director of Instituto Nice, Valéria Rodrigues, said the whole city knows the couple and she put out an appeal for help from the community to make this happen and the response was overwhelming.

Various shops and companies pledged their services and donated money and goods to help the couple. A lawyer helped Erica change her gender marker back in June.

The couple looked radiant on their big day which they shared with thousands of pride revellers and we wish them a happy future together!