Everyday People.

Black. White. Young. Old. Gay. Straight. Girl. Boy. It was all on display at the 2010 Gay Pride Parade in West Hollywood on Sunday; a celebration of diversity, harmony, and human rights. Society has certainly come a long way, but what’s a parade without a dedicated pack of foam-at-the-mouth protesters spitting venom at anyone in a gold lamay thong or a tiara?

“Pick on someone your own size!” I shouted , only to realize the six guys tap dancing in lavender chiffon were built like wide receivers. “Right… just shut up and take photos,” I muttered to myself.

The boys didn’t seem to care much anyway; they had their tap routine down like Fred and Ginger: one-two-three-and turn-and smile. Rinse and repeat.

Yes, all this warmth and acceptance, these smiles and embraces, this gathering of plumbers, doctors, cops, nurses, teachers, actors, stay-at-home Mothers, all these everyday people turning Santa Monica Boulevard into this asphalt theatre of communion and brotherly love…

Enough to make anyone want to pick up a sign and protest.

My one lingering question though, the really important one I never got to ask the two ‘officers’ in the photo: where does one keep one’s mobile phone during a parade?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 15th, 2010 at 12:19 pm. It is filed under Editorial and tagged with 2010 gay pride parade, AIDS walk, celebration, Editorial, protesters, west hollywood. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.