We didn't go to SF Pride today. Annie had to work (she grades Art PRAXIS exams several times a year), and I enjoyed a day at home gardening, cooking, baking, and wine drinking.
We've been to a lot of pride parades over the years in Seattle, Portland, San Jose, San Francisco and Santa Cruz. As co-chair of GLSEN in Seattle, I spearheaded the creation of a school bus float that we used to march in the Pride parade there.
My first Pride parade was in SF in 1994, the year Annie and I met. I still hadn't come out to my parents yet, and was anxious about it. As we stood cheering on a huge contingent of PFLAG people marching by, I locked eyes with a woman who wore a tee-shirt reading, "My daughter's a lesbian. Get over it." She walked over to me through the throngs and gave me a big hug and said, "You remind me of my daughter." Could anything have been a better sign to me that all would be well? (Several years later, my mom was involved in starting a PFLAG chapter in her small community.)
Although Pride can be moving and a Mardi Gras of fun, I'm not too fond of the huge crowds. So today I felt the spirit reading about world-wide Pride online and was especially moved by reading about Pride in India, Peru--and Bulgaria's first pride march (and disturbed at the arrests of 60 people who were trying to disrupt it). I have a feeling next year it'll be old hat--basically ignored by all but a freakish few.
Still, I felt a little tug at missing out on seeing Gavin Newsom in the parade...
... not to mention Cyndi Lauper.
