Pride

[rm]

Pride was awesome. We're tired from too much sun and too much dancing on concrete, but it was awesome. We planned well, we ate good food after, and Patty cracked me up, wearing a sticker she got from the Bears and saying, with great frequency "I'm a bear, grrr." This entertained not just me, but also pretty much everyone we interacted with, including the clerk at Trader Joe's.

I did note that the groups that were massive in the parade maybe a decade ago, barely seemed to exist now. The Bears numbered about twenty, the Leather Men were even fewer; in the parade of various religions, I didn't even see a pagan group (unless you count Radical Faeries) and the poly group was tiny. We didn't stay to the end, so maybe we missed certain groups, but it felt like everyone had dispersed into political causes this year, which isn't a bad thing. But it was the first time since the late-80s and early-90s, when the parade was so about the AIDS crisis, that it felt quite like this.

There were levels on which I was glad for the politics. But I did also miss the level of hot, mostly naked making out I remembered from the last couple of years. Which brings me to another point: way more sexual displays from lesbian floats this year, which I also liked, as I really do have a problem with this idea both from within and without the gay community that men party and are hot and women doing politics and scold.

There were also larger and more vocal transpeople groups this year.

General notes -- if you're representing something really specific with a small group, dress well! Choose clothes that fit you! They don't have to be formal or expensive, but man, the amount of slovenly stuff I saw on people who would have no problem finding affordable off-the-rack clothes that would fit them well and represent their thing (butches, I'm looking at you) MADE ME CRAZY.

At the dance, it rained right before we got there, and there was an actual massive rainbow in the skyline! The music wasn't my thing (not because it was modern, but because it was more hiphop than I can really get into), but it was still good to move, and I danced like a lunatic to a ridiculous mix of Michael Jackson stuff, not because I particularly liked it, but because it was familiar and easy.

Patty, btw, is ridiculously hot on the dance floor.

Comments

[virginia-fell.livejournal.com]

That sounds so wonderful. I'm glad you had a good time, and hooray for appropriately-timed rainbows!

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

I'm glad your Pride was so fun.

In these here parts the niche groups are all tiny and tend to march together - all the Trans-Bi-BDSM-Butch/Femme comms marched together... but we don't have huge orgs and floats that require preregistering (unless you want to bo on the floats, etc.)

[frodo-esque.livejournal.com]

Glad you had fun! There is much to be said for well-fitted clothes. Most people don't bother because they hate the idea of wearing a numerical size bigger. However, if they just embrace the change-- they'd actually look smaller in well-fit clothes.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

Patty, btw, is ridiculously hot on the dance floor.

I knew that from the barn dance, but it's good to know she's an equal-opportunity dancer in terms of musical genres. *g*

[redstapler.livejournal.com]

I'm really disappointed I missed Pride. :(

But I did get to see my mom, which, to me, was a little more important.

[rm.livejournal.com]

In this case, it was mostly peopel wearing stuff that was WAY too big for them.

[brewsternorth.livejournal.com]

True indeed.

And you still got to see the rainbows!

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

Epic rainbow was epic — I saw it from DUMBO while my friend Dave and I were wandering in search of a restaurant after leaving Governors Island (we’d gone to see the zombie film, which began its run that day). BTW, did you know there's free Water Taxi service between Brooklyn & Gov. Isld.? That came as a pleasant (and convenient) surprise.

[mellacita.livejournal.com]

Choose clothes that fit you! They don't have to be formal or expensive, but man, the amount of slovenly stuff I saw on people who would have no problem finding affordable off-the-rack clothes that would fit them well and represent their thing (butches, I'm looking at you) MADE ME CRAZY.

How funny; I had just made a post that had mentioned clothes and fit and such. I know you've written about it before, and I think it stayed with me subconciously.

[miep.livejournal.com]

I've noticed that with a lot of younger butches especially, and I thin it has a lot to do with being uncomfortable in one's body. I dressed in clothes that were too big and poorly cut for years because I thought it hid what I saw as figure flaws, but I'm not exactly butch. ;) also? too many people, of every gender, buy into the idea that big and sloppy=comfortable and well-fitting = uncomfortable.

[drfardook.livejournal.com]

I had a hard time finding any bears. Just this guy (http://www.flickr.com/photos/drfardook/2940056901/). No leather (on foot, a moderate amount of that on the bikes at the start of the parade), not that many queens either. I got the same impression about less social and ethnic groups (the two spirit society was itty bitty and only the caribbeans and peruvians were out in full force) and more politics. Didn't see the entire parade as I had been carrying a heavy camera around for 4 1/2 hours and was about to collapse so I left early.

If you wanted lesbians making out you should have hit the end of the dyke march. There was plenty of that in the fountain at Washington Square Park.

Yes, I have pictures.

[firinel.livejournal.com]

I think part of that is also that well fitting = difficult to buy for some.

And I'm not sure how you meant "uncomfortable in one's body"; if you mean "they don't like the way they look" in a general sense that most people deal with, or "the shape of their body makes them uncomfortable". If I wore "well fitting" clothing, my bust/waist ratio would be highlighted in such a way that people interact with me as if I were ultra-feminine. In fact, I've been wearing clothing that fits me better lately and I've noticed that people don't just act differently, they actually identify me as being feminine. I, personally, hate that. It's not that I'm uncomfortable with my body. I love it, I take it to the nude beach frequently. But I don't want others to impinge on my self-identity because of it, either. :/

I'm curious, rm, if you've any suggestions for that sort of situation.

[miep.livejournal.com]

oh definitely the latter, though I can see how the comment I made after that would have confused the issue, and I think it could be a bit of both.

[miep.livejournal.com]

hm. all the bears at the twin cities pride were wearing clothing...

[rm.livejournal.com]

My biggest peeve is about how things don't fit in the shoulders. Men in New York do this too. The seam of a shirt-sleeve should be at or near the shoulder. It shouldn't be dropping half-way down the arm. And if you need to get a bigger size to accomodate your bust (either because you do or don't want to show it off) it's one of those things that can be fixed at a tailor for not a great deal of money -- I realize that "not a great deal of money" is still a great deal of money for many people, but not EVERY SINGLE PERSON I saw with this particular clothing flaw.

Similarly, if it makes your sleeves too long (short sleeve shirts shouldn't be hanging past the elbow) or the body of the shirt too long -- if you can afford to get it fixed, get it fixed. No one bothers to get alterations anymore, even people who can easily afford it, and it drives me fucking nuts.

Clothes don't have to be body-hugging to fit well, and believe me, I get how hard it is to get a female form to look masculine because of all sorts of ratios -- and I've got it easier than most. But the swimming in dad's clothes look really isn't doing anyone any favors, and it's more easily avoidable than people think.

[elainasaunt.livejournal.com]

Hooray to you and everyone who got to go. I've missed Paris Pride for various reasons the last few years and was determined to go this year, what with the anniversary and all. But an invitation to get out of town was switched to this past weekend and I kind of had to accept it. There were half a million people this year (at least; that's the police guesstimate).

France has had civil unions for a decade, Paris has a gay mayor, the marriage issue isn't huge because not a lot of straight people bother getting married (they often take advantage of the civil unions law, in fact). OTOH, transsexuality was only just removed from the list of mental illnesses in May, and same-sex couples are still denied adoption and access to medically assisted reproduction. Work to do.

[rm.livejournal.com]

You know, this reminds me that as the US tries to fix its healthcare system and a lot of people make noise for single-payer (which I lean towards in the sense that everyone deserves healthcare, regardless of employment or family status, and insurance companies are evil), that some versions of reform could put us in a position that makes it even harder than it already is for LGBTQ people to get good care, considering our government's homophobia.

[thunderemerald.livejournal.com]

I didn't see all of the parade (on account of having the plague and barely being able to drag myself out of the apartment in the first place), but my highlights were: (a) the Renfaire folk, with whips, and (b) the Butch/Femme ladies. Also (c) all the shouting and rainbows and love.

[aitchellsee.livejournal.com]

Oh - were the Renfaire folk the ones cracking some sort of whips, relatively near the final part of the parade? There were too many people in front of me to see anything but the tops of the whips as they snaked around, but boy could I HEAR them! (or, was there more than one group with whips?)

[rm.livejournal.com]

More than one group with whips!

[aitchellsee.livejournal.com]

It was a glorious day for the Parade, and I was so delighted that the Parade part at least didn't get rained out; I'd had some concerns. My friend and I ended up down where Christopher Street crossed the parade route, and hoped to see a POC friend who was marching with "Bill Thompson for Mayor" but got there too late -- I did however see some young black women wearing Bill Thompson for Mayor t-shirts in the sidestreets before we got to Christopher, with a lot of fake medals and other swag around their necks, so I know I didn't miss them by much.

I was really pleased (as always) to see how many POC were marching in the parade, and don't know how many floats I missed by getting there in midstream. I got to see the delegation from my old church, Church of the Holy Apostles, who are not only very LGBTQ-friendly but have that famous Soup Kitchen, and some other Episcopal church that had a thurifer censing the crowds with incense :-) And everyone around me was cheering the float from some RC St. Francis Xavier church or other.

And I actually caught one of the little packets of body lotion from Kiehl's :-)

I do wish that marchers from particular groups could carry some kind of elevated signs as well as the big streetwide chest-high banners, for the sake of those of us whose view was mostly blocked for anything lower than the big motorized floats.

ETA: the Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen was not part of the parade of course, it's the part of their ministry that serves over a thousand hot meals every day and has for over twenty-five years. If anyone has some spare cash just lying around ;-)you couldn't donate to a better cause.

[juniperus.livejournal.com]

Glad you had a good time!

All the bears I know were in Chicago... at the Zoo and, apparently, so many of them geeks that the 3G networks were keeling over. LOL

[alumiere.livejournal.com]

i'm really glad you got to enjoy pride!

[gement.livejournal.com]

I gotta say, I struggle with a lack of clothing literacy, and the urge to run screaming from the whole hairy subject grows even stronger when I'm in guy brain.

I've managed once to entrust pants to a tailor to have them hemmed up, and it took nearly literal hand-holding from a partner because it was scary for me. Different class background. I have a whole laundry basket of stuff that needs mended/tailored. I don't mend or tailor, so it sits. But the idea of going to some random dry cleaner and asking them to do it either feels wasteful or gives me the class-based heebie jeebies.

So, while I appreciate that they might make for better photo ops if they had Queer Eye smack them around first, seeing people in the parade that aren't well-tailored might be welcoming to people like, well, me.

(I know, this is about your general pet peeve of people not knowing how to deal with clothes. Guilty as charged!)

[rm.livejournal.com]

Well, if it helps at all, I don't blame people for not knowing -- it's lost cultural knowledge, especially for people that don't live in New York or other cities where every block there's a drycleaner with a sign in the windowing saying "alterations and tailoring" just begging someone to ask questions.

A lot of this stuff freaks me out too, but largely because I know the rules and the tailors know the rules, and then I come in and ask for things that would make perfect sense -- if I had a man in tow.

I also think a lot of my knowledge of this stuff doesn't come from class backgorund (although that's some of it), but the fact that growing up a dancer, I was a mimic -- "how do I make my body look like that?" and when it wasn't steps, it was clothes, so I studied the details, often compulsively.

[kadairk.livejournal.com]

Sounds lovely, and rather different from Dallas's Million Gay March yesterday, which ended with an impromptu rally on the steps of the courthouse in Fort Worth to protest the excessive use of force at a gay bar "inspection" (checking for liquor license violations) the night before, which left one man in the hospital with a skull fracture. :(

[dichroic.livejournal.com]

There is a butch woman at another site of my company (well, since I know her only in a work context we don't discuss identity issues - but I've met her 'roommate' who is pretty clearly her partner and she dresses and presents in a very identifiably butch style). In a recent photo celebrating a group project she was on, she wore a suit that was *so great* that I emailed to compliment her on it, and so great on her that I remember it and wanted to comment on it now. Taupe (a color I'd never be able to wear) and she sparked it with a deep pink shirt that was really unexpected and a great contrast with her manly hairstyle. And it was definitely shaped like a men's suit, not a women's. I guess I'd never really thought of butch women in context of stylish dressing until then, and that suit really delivered an education all by itself.

Also, definitely harder outside New York. When I lived in the Phoenix area I just literally didn't know where to go for anything more complex than hemming. (I live in Taipei now and have just had four shirts and a dress made for me! I'm very excited about this and am considering going back for more.)

[julesndairyland.livejournal.com]

Sounds awesome.
And as you have posted pics of Beautiful Patty (but not bear-like in my definition) I *giggle* at her pronouncement of being a bear.
:D

[thunderemerald.livejournal.com]

I assume they must have been near the end -- but I didn't see enough of the parade to get a sense of timing. But yup, they were cracking whips, and they were AWESOME!

Edmonton 09-they let us use a TANK!

[stardragonca.livejournal.com]

About 2:25 in. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fu8U4BNf6Cc

[billijean.livejournal.com]

I still have to write it up and gather some photos, but Jordan walked in Toronto's Pride parade last Sunday (I couldn't go *sad*) with our church. Of course, Jordan being just-turned 13 and at his first event, his perspective is not the same as others who have been to more - but he informed me there were lots of guys making out (but I don't know.. lots=100 or lots=4?) and he described what I assume to be bears.

I only watched part of the parade on tv (broadcast live and then again later that evening) looking for Jordan. I didn't pay attention to which religious groups were there, but my congregation seemed to be represented mostly (but certainly not only) by people from the Pagan group.

Tangentially related is this sermon/blog post by a UU minister http://chalicefire.blogspot.com/2009/06/invisible-to-visible-how-far-have-we.html . He talks about the transition from invisible to visible, gay shame to gay pride and the current lack of (American) news reporting on pride events. This surprised me as here, Pride has always been big news. The Canadian military in is the parade, as are the police and firefighters, politicians... and the events all week, but most especially the parade, are big news - always the first or second story on news reports complete with video and there are lots of colour photos in the newspapers. It is nearly impossible to not know it is Pride week. I was surprised to hear the coverage described as in the link above.

[rm.livejournal.com]

I think the coverage here is -- weird. It's a weird situation. I mean, the New York Pride parade, on some level, that's boring. It's New York, it's been going on for ages now, we do have large groups of police marching and local politicians (city and state), and so forth. So maybe not so much coverage.

And then in other places, such things don't get coverage, because gay is still really shocking or those communities don't have Pride parades and only report on ones like New York and SF as a way to differentiate themselves from the people who live here.

It's very strange. I get annoyed when people talk about the courage of being out in these times. It's really not that much of a big deal most of the time, and certainly not compared to how it was when you think of ten years and then twenty and thirty and so forth years ago. If one more person in fandom describes an out actor as a hero for kissing his partner in public, I'm gonna smack somebody.

On the other hand, someone just got gay bashed a couple of days ago a mile from my apartment.

We're in flux here, and it's not graceful.