We had a somewhat subdued Capital Pride this year.
Sure, there was drag brunch and meet-ups with fair-weather friends who only come out during holidays. But I refused to make any substantive plans for the weekend and declined a few invitations. Although this was anti-social, I have no regrets because I gained the flexibility to skip the parade (due to heat) and most of the festival (due to rain.) What privilege.
After a year of no pride parades, we decided that enjoying Washington D.C. pride wasn’t enough. One week after Capital Pride, we made the trek to Maryland for Baltimore Gay Pride.
This time there were no 100-year storms, just heat. It was a fun parade and a very different experience than D.C. pride.
Washington D.C. / Capital Gay Pride was last week. It was our first gay pride in over a year because we moved to D.C. last August, which is after Capitol Pride but before Dallas Pride.
D.C. Pride was alright — the parade seemed to go on for hours and the bars weren’t that much busier than a typical weekend.
We didn’t have the energy for the special parties, so we stuck to the parade and a few of the usual bars (which isn’t the worst way to do pride.)
A float at the DC Pride Parade.
This week I undertook the humbling task of reviewing all of my blog entries.
This blog stretches back to my freshman year of college, so there are a lot of great (and not-so-great) memories archived in these pages.
Here’s a look at how I spent the last decade or so, from Miami to Minneapolis, and then down to Texas.
We start in Miami — there were long days in the library, bad drag shows, and misadventures in Little Havana.
Then there was the move to Minnesota, where I started law school and lived in a frat house during my first semester.
The Philadelphia Office of LGBT Affairs recently came out with a new pride flag that adds black and brown stripes.
I am not sure whether the “More Color More Pride” is a cynical publicity stunt or a genuine attempt at inclusion.
The colors on the original pride flag designed by Gilbert Baker represented the themes of “sexuality, life, healing, sun, nature, art, harmony, and spirit.”
Creating yet another iteration of the flag doesn’t change or threaten these values, but runs the risk of making it easier for people and institutions to virtue signal a message of racial inclusiveness without doing the necessary work to make that happen. 🌈
Here are the highlights from my first full year in Dallas.
Work: After seven years at Thomson Reuters, I made the jump to The Dallas Morning News in July.
Home: This spring, I moved into a new apartment in the same building. My building’s original management company also had a very ugly decline which culminated in a sale. (Sadly, the new company isn’t much better.)
ilume Park’s small dog park, covered in poop.
Life: I turned 30 years old this year, but celebrations were muted because of the Pulse nightclub attack and downtown Dallas police ambush. Around that time I also came across a dead body on the morning dog walk. So there’s that.
This fall, I also bought a new phone which happened to be recalled.
A reporter at the scene of a suicide near Katy Trail.
Celebrations: Here are some of the events that I made it to this year:
There were also countless drag shows and pageants, brunches with friends, and very long dog walks.
I’m probably leaving a lot out, but those were the high points of the year. Here are some of my favorite pictures:
The festival was held at Reverchon Park, which is at the edge of the gayborhood. There was lots of food, liquor, and some salsa dancing.
Mexican tchotchkes being sold at Texas Latino Gay Pride.
Mexican wrestler masks for sale at Texas Latino Gay Pride.
The parade and festival was held in downtown Fort Worth. It was smaller and less organized than Dallas Pride, but still a lot of fun.
There were also a ton of people from Dallas, so we ran into a lot of friends.
The past month whizzed by.
We had gay pride parades in Dallas and Fort Worth, long pool days, and trips to Six Flags Over Texas. I will cover everything in posts this month because I’ve promised myself to stop having a Truman Capote dilemma and finally start blogging again.
Pre-Pride is that quiet period between the Gay Super Bowl (the RuPaul’s Drag Race finale) and the beginning of Gay Pride week.
Dallas Gay Pride Parade participants practicing in front of iLume Park.
Pre-Pride is a roughly 5-week period in which we make half-hearted attempts to diet and save money/liver energy for the hot mess festivities of Gay Pride weekend.
It’s like Lent without the righteousness.
The modern Gay Pride parades started as an annual commemoration of the Stone Wall Riots.
Police clash with rioters at the Stonewall Inn
The quick story – On June 28, 1969, New York City Police raided a gay bar called the Stonewall Inn. Although such raids were common, this time the bar patrons fought back and kicked off several days of rioting.
The riots generated enough press and communal energy to spark the modern Gay Rights movement.
There is an exhaustive Wikipedia entry on the riots, and the Columbia University website has some interesting primary material.
Last year, the riots were the subject of an “offensively bad” Hollywood movie, which is how you know that an event is culturally significant.
In about 50 years, we went from police raids and street violence to legalized gay marriage and the nomination Eric Fanning, the first openly gay U.S. Secretary of the Army.
Homophobia is increasingly a social faux pas, although hate-crimes and issues like transphobia are still a huge problem.
Gay Pride has also evolved from a somber civil rights march to the closest thing that most U.S. cities have to carnival – an event with floats, elaborate costumes, and lots of booze.
A float at Miami Beach Pride in South Beach
Twin Cities Pride 2015 outside of Union Restaurant.
Dancing at the iLume Block Party at Dallas Pride.
A drag queen performing at the iLume Block Party.
A drag queen wearing a rainbow dress at the iLume Gay Pride block party.
Alyssa Edwards at the Dallas Gay Pride iLume block party.
Drag Queens on a float at the Alan Ross Gay Pride Parade in Dallas.
Dallas is fortunate enough to have a large gay neighborhood and strong network of LGBT community organizations. Oak Lawn routinely attracts tourists for drag pageants and events like Texas Bear Round-up and the Gay Rodeo.
Dallas celebrity and lifestyle guru Steve Kemble was the gay rodeo’s Grand Marshal.
Texas Bear Roundup weekend at Station 4 nightclub in Dallas
National Showman Pageant at the Round-up Saloon in Dallas, Texas.
A jazz talent number for at the Miss Dallas FFI drag pageant.
That is why Pride can seem like “just another drunken street parade” on par with St. Patrick’s Day.
In places without established gayborhoods, Gay Pride is often the only public gay-friendly event.
Participants at Iowa City Pride 2013
Small-town Gay Pride parades attract tourists from the greater metro area (or state) and show the community that gay people do exist outside of dive bars. This is often crucial support for isolated young people.
The importance of small-city prides and gay tourism is why I am making an effort to travel to more Pride parades. My last small town pride was a while back in Iowa City. This year, I plan on hitting up some of the lesser-parades in Texas.
Iowa City Pride 2013
Thebiggest float at Iowa City Pride 2013
Counter-protestors at Iowa City Pride 2013
All the typical things happened – there were drag queens, ridiculous outfits, sloppy messes, and brawling lesbians.
Unlike Minneapolis gay pride or Chicago gay pride, I got to experience this parade as a resident. My building is right in the heart of the metroplex’s gay district, so I didn’t have any of the typical logistics to worry about.
My building also threw a block party for residents with a drag stage and open bar. My neighbors and I spent most of our time watching from our gated-off VIP section on the parade route.
Dancing at the iLume Block Party at Dallas Pride.
In addition to the open bar, there were also these guys from a local HIV resource center walking around handing out jello shots. I think they overestimated the number of party attendees, so they ended up giving 10+ shots to each person.
It’s Friday morning and I’m flipping between work emails and Tweetdeck when I see the news – the Supreme Court decided Obergefell v. Hodges!
Suddenly gay marriage is now legal in all 50 states, and employers have to provide equal benefits for all same-sex partners.
The texts, IMs, and Facebook posts flood in, and Twitter explodes.
I have a good cry, get retweeted by RuPaul, and then realize that this Gay Pride Weekend was going to be nuts.
And it was.
The trip was completely spontaneous and probably ill-timed. I attempted to fly out during the storm of the century and ended up stranded at the airport for over three hours.
I looked pretty rough by the time I got out of O’hare, but nothing beat speeding through Chicago in a rented BMW while blasting Rick Ross. It would have felt completely gangster if I wasn’t giggling at myself the entire time.
The weekend was hilarious, although I am surprised by how many Minneapolis gays move to Chicago.
I felt like I was running into a former-Minnesotan at every-other-bar…
And of course… there are pictures.
Monica Beverly Hillz!
Dita Ritz. No lotion needed.
I love visiting Chicago, but I was so happy to come back to Minneapolis after the weekend.
Living in Chicago full-time would probably be too crazy, but the occasional crazy weekend with friends is perfect. I’ll be back next year!
They were unified in their horror, but mostly because they thought I was moving to some desolate, backwoods place.
They were totally thinking about Iowa.
The drive is uneventful, but pretty in its own way.
The drive was very long, and I was blasting trap music the entire way down. I wasn’t paying close enough attention to my speed however, and totally got slapped with a speeding ticket by Trooper McDreamy of Bumblewood County.
By the time I passed through Waterloo I was shocked to see buildings.
People actually live here!
Iowa City is actually a rather cute college town. The city is dominated by the massive University of Iowa and has a nice downtown area. I did have a strange feeling of always being on campus though…
Oh, and it happened to be Gay Pride weekend!
The Iowa City Gay Pride parade was the saddest four minute thing.
But hey, they tried.
The silence was the strangest part of the parade – none of the cars or floats played music. It made the block-long procession feel even smaller.
This was the most extravagant float in the parade:
It’s from Studio 13, the only gay bar. Iowa’s finest.
And again, no music.
The underwhelmed crowd drifted toward the pedestrian mall after the parade ended. The mall was lined with booths but there was no music there either.
Not even the restaurants with outdoor seating had music.
As with any pride, there was a great cross-section of the community: young, old, black, white, tan, punk, prep, etc. Oh! And there were these crazies holding up anti-gay signs:
One girl decided to make her own sign and followed them around for about 20 minutes.
“Sodomy is an abominable sin” / “But it feels so good!”
This sparked another faux-protest.
There was a stage set up in the pedestrian mall. Everyone congregated there and things picked up once the performances and drag shows started.
The Iowa City drag shows were entertaining and surprisingly good, but most of the girls are from the same drag family and interchangeable.
We went to Studio 13 both nights and I was again surprised by the quality of the drag.
They also had a special guest:
Alaska Thunderfuck from Drag Race! Hiiiiii!
Studio 13 is small but just like any other gay bar – aggressive hair, strong cologne, and at least three people face-planting on the floor.
I had a lot of fun, but I’m sure the $3 long islands helped.
We ended up going to several other douchey college bars so it was a long drive home on Sunday…but I had a great time that weekend and will definitely visit Iowa again.
I think my next adventure is dancing in Des Moines!
Due to some hang-ups with my German passport, we spent Pride 2012 in Chicago.
I’ve been to Cologne, Amsterdam, New York, Philly, Vegas, etc. as a child, but this was my first time as an adult in a big city other than Miami.
Let’s just say that Minneapolis feels a lot smaller now.
Last year I went to the Twin Cities Pride Parade and I was thoroughly underwhelmed. I skipped the parade this year and went to Loring Park on Saturday and Sunday.
Saturday was muggy and drizzly, so the park wasn’t very busy.
Gay Pride is sort of like Mardi Gras – you can run around half-naked or rock really obnoxious fashion and it’s somehow socially acceptable. My contribution to the hot messitude of Pride weekend is my douche bag haircut. Behold:
It is Minneapolis Gay Pride season again. We started the hilarity off yesterday at the Gay 90’s Miss City of the Lakes Pageant, which was bizarre combination of experienced performers and extremely green queens.
The regular girls are hard to top:
I really need to do these summaries on a weekly basis because I end up giving short-shrift to everything when I wait two weeks.
What happened these past two weeks? Well, there was school, dates, drag show fabulousness, illness/rice socks, music production, the Minneapolis gay pride parade, diva-dom, and mass awkwardness.
The most exciting thing that happened during the last two weeks is that I finished my first song. Here is the concise version:
