Pride

[Zerbie]

So a friend and I just got back from spending the morning and early afternoon at the Pride parade and festival (out here, they do that in April before it gets too hot.) We had a nice time (though the parade was small, and awfully sedate!). We just went to wander around and have fun - ran into a lot of friends, some of them were marching this morning, we ate junk food, got sunburn. . .

And. . . I acquired a brand-new, hoppin'-cute white plush bunny with pink ears and a pink nose, plus she - the bunny, is wearing little bunny slippers. The were selling them at one of the vender's booths. So of course I had to buy her.

[Jennifer5]

Sounds like a lot of fun.... I went to my first gay pride here in Wshington(state) last summer.... it was pretty fun, but truthfully I expected more

[Zerbie]

Never been to pride in Washington - this was my first time going to the one here. I've been to parades in Houston and NYC, and this one was quite small, very sedate, and frankly, very little about the parade was interesting. It was a very calm pride parade.

Then the festival for which they charged an entrance fee was nothing but a few vendors booths and some membership recruitment for groups like HRC. We got bored after an hour and left.

We still had a nice time, but I left nostalgic for the NYC parade. Even so I was glad I went - ran into about 10 people I know, got the new soft rabbit, and the obligatory mardi gras beads that came my way from the parade floats. And a nasty sunburn. Eek.

[Jennifer5]

My 'uncle' was talking at pride so by the time he did that people were starting to perform so we stayed. fun, but expected more... pretty much the same experience

[Lydia]

Originally Posted by Zerbie

So a friend and I just got back from spending the morning and early afternoon at the Pride parade and festival

Did any overtly christian groups participate, Zerbie?

There is at least one church that marches in Toronto's pride parade each year. Last year they danced to worship music and I think a few of them even passed out candy to the kids. But it did happen quite a while ago (last June) so I could be wrong.

[Zerbie]

I totally meant to mention that!

The interesting thing about this parade was that Christian groups made up about HALF of it (or maybe it was a third, I wasn't counting.)

The largest denom represented, by FAR, was the UCC. Members of 3 or 4 different area UCC congregations were marching, and No Longer Silent (a clerical group that speaks out against homophobia) followed along behind them. Many of the people marching were straight "allies."

I was dumbfounded by the number of gay Mormons marching in the parade. AS Mormons. When I first saw a bunch of guys in dark trousers, white button down shirts, ties, riding bikes with their bike helmets on, my mind rather expected them to hand out ex-gay tracts. Then as they came closer, I saw that they were part of the parade, and alongside them were a bunch of other guys holding a banner that read Gay Mormons. It's the first time I can ever remember seeing a gay Mormon contingent at a pride parade.

Another first for me was seeing Native American Out. It was a relatively large group of LGBT Native Americans, dressed in traditional clothes. They were *beautiful*! It was mind-blowing!

So those are some of the interesting differences that Phoenix Pride has from the other parades I've been to. The "community" here has it's own very distinctive composition. I just would have liked the crowd to be more enthusiastic. I mean, PFLAG marched by, I was on a very crowded street corner, and I was the ONLY ONE clapping. I said Come on folks, it's PFLAG! Clap for PFLAG! My friend joined me, and we were pretty much it.

[Jennifer5]

Sounds like fun!