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Just Pride [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']
Date: 2023-06-26
I encountered my first pride event in 1974 in Independence National Historical Park in Philadelphia when a stumbled onto couple of flamboyant gay guys with signs about gay rights. I’m not sure if they thought of it as “pride” or “protest” or “visibility” or what, but having never seen anything of the kind before, it made an impression on me and I gave them a fairly wide berth and was unsure what I thought. I was a 17-year-old virgin on my way to Germany from Utah as a language student, and it did not at that point occur to me that I might be bisexual in addition to being shy and socially inept.
I spent about the next 20 years figuring out that I was bisexual and what I meant by that in my life. By the 90s I was a bi activist of sorts, participating in bi-visibility events, and lobbying to get the B and then the T added to LGBTQIA+ in Seattle. Then I met my wife, we became parents, and dad-mode nearly always has higher priority over queer-activist mode.
This year’s attacks on transgender kids have been horrifying. It certainly stirs me to brave the train traffic on the Pride Trains, where everyone is packed in like sardines. I felt aglow in the pride of this community at the same time I felt a-steam in our collective body heat. Is this a risk for my stent?
I haven’t been to the parade since before the pandemic, and had conveniently forgotten the parade is 4 hours long. About half way through, as I began wondering if this could be the end coming, the guys behind me called their friends who said their group was still waiting to start. I was still waiting to see my co-workers, so I stayed.
I like the colors
There were tons of swag, mostly stickers and whatnot that will end up in the recycling (although I did accept a rainbow Mickey Mouse). However water bottles and pride flags were strewn out liberally. Not many beads, to my disappointment. You can’t have too many beads, or at least I don’t yet.
Lots of kids. I tried not to take their photos without parental permission, but I couldn’t resist the unicyclists. Three of my daughters used to ride unicycles.
One of my favorite groups was the gay veterans, who were led by a guy whose shirt said
“Recruiter Recruiter Recruiter Recruiter”.
I’m only putting up a few pics because I am too tired to download and upload all the photos. These are not a balanced sample. No photos of churches, banks, or woke businesses, naked cyclists, politicians, city departments, medical clinics, role-players, mental health service professional sports teams (all of ours), etc.
Weird, I dont see most of the photos I put up, but they show up when I go to edit. Sorry I’ll have to figure it out tomorrow.
I hope you all had a Happy Pride!
Local acrobat school
A different type of unicycle
I though this submission was pretty funny, but my daughter thought it meant killing people’s Dreams and sent a negative message.
I’m glad the movement continues
Black Pride
Yes! Let’s do it!
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