[ Skeptic First | Human Next ]: Gay Pride Parade 2005

If you know anything about me, you'd know that I'm not really into parades. I guess I'm not into standing around for hours end, and watching average people walk by. This to me is not a thrill by any means.

As it turns out, on Sunday we went to have breakfast at our usual spot in the Village and noticed that there was an abundance of people and gay flags all around us. As we finished breakfast we noticed that the streets had been setup for a parade. To our surprise it was the Gay Pride Parade.

We walked past the early stages of the parade route (the parade hadn't started yet) and made our way to the theater showing Batman Returns. The movie ROCKED! If you haven't seen it yet...GO. It has more of a story line than the previous Batman flicks and it keeps you interested.

When we got out, we noticed that the parade was still going on so we walked over to check it out. The following pictures will tell you what we saw. It was fun to watch the craziness (I must admit), but I won't be attending any other parade any time soon.

Click on any picture to see all 109 pictures.

Click here to see the rest of the pictures

Hey.....so you see where that arrow is pointing? Guess who that is? Did you figure it out? No? It's me taking a picture of myself! :-)

Overall the parade was pretty cool. I have to admit it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be... but i'm not making a habit of this.

9 Comments:

min said...: First of all, thanks for "inviting me" to brunch. I'm so very sorry I couldn't make it though.

And I was also in the city yesterday and noticed a lot of rainbow flags on the train on the way there. I almost wished I was gay. There was so much camarederie I envied. I would've actually gone to see the parade but I had tix for the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.

Nice pic of you by the way. Is that my sis in front of you?; Monday, June 27, 2005
Jeff said...: U know! I got tired of inviting you to all these places, but you always deny my requests...so this time I figured I'd stay quiet.
:-P

Who else would that be in front of me?; Monday, June 27, 2005
Claire said...: The juxtaposition between the series of the Pride Parade and the Muslim prayer images is stark.

I appreciate that you are forthright in posting and questioning your own visceral reaction. Considering the context, the city and the reality and the properganda, you are right to at least observe, but you also right to question to your reaction, which is conditioned. It is the same in DC, with less of the human instensity.

Beautiful res on your phone camera!; Monday, June 27, 2005
Claire said...: Argh. My apologies, propaganda, not "properganda." :-P

The contrast of which I wrote, is one of the explosion of self expression and the self expression that could herald an explosion.; Monday, June 27, 2005
Jeff said...: Claire,

As a fellow mind wanderer, you know that I often tend to question my own actions from time to time. I don't do things knowingly sometimes, but I have to know why I do or don't do them. The end result is what you see here in this blog.

By the way.. These pics were taken with my tiny Pentax Optio 5si.; Monday, June 27, 2005
Chick said...: What a colorful parade.

I had to cut through it as a kid. My parents thought it would be a good birthday party idea to take my little brother & 10 of his little friends to The Entrepid. Unfortunately...we went on the same day as The Gay Pride Parade...can you imagine what a 10 year old boy would think about any of this?

My parents got lots & lots of angry phone calls from irate (& close minded) parents for weeks.; Monday, June 27, 2005
dodoi80 said...: hey! we also had a Pride PArade here in Toronto last weekend. i didn't watch it though coz it was so hot!

i saw one 2 years ago, and i have to admit that it was a LOT to take in i'm afraid. i went home kinda shocked at the openness (figuratively and literally speaking) of these folks,

but it was a good learning experience for me. taught me how to be more tolerant and less homophobic. i have gay friends but seeing them do stuff that are "taboo" for some peoplestill IS a LOT for my mind to digest, yanno?

its like one of those experiences where you want to just stare at something you haven't seen before and poke. BUT IT'S RUDE TO STARE that's why you have to act nonchalant (and less ignorant) about it.; Monday, June 27, 2005
Jeff said...: Chick & Dodoi80:

I'm not sure if it's the product of living in such a diverse city, but i think we're used to this sort of crazyness. It's when we see stiff normal people that our jaws drop in awe. LOL; Monday, June 27, 2005
Maverick said...: N-V!!!! Cool pictures! I love that you got your picture of yourself taking a picture of yourself on TV. With a big Q around it. Awesome.

Spitting in a Wishing Well; Monday, June 27, 2005