That's interesting. I marched in New York Pride in 2001 with a friend who was working for an HIV/AIDS organization, I helped carry their banner. Whereas when I went to San Francisco Pride the following year, I definitely got a more commercial feeling about the whole event (Ian McKellan was the grand marshal and had a Starbucks drink in his hand the whole time; Smirnoff had one of the biggest floats, etc). That's not to say there wasn't reference to safer sex or other health issues, but I can't say it stuck in my mind. The dykes on bikes were truly a sight to behold.

I'm really hoping to get to a local Pride event in Liverpool or Manchester this summer if I can make my schedule work, I'll be curious what the themes are of those.