Pittsburgh Pride 2013

Pride was this past weekend, and it was kind of perfect in so many ways, and pretty much exactly what I needed.  If you’re interested in what my day was like, read below.  It’s kind of long, and very much like an actual blog (I know, scary, right?).  If not, I won’t be offended either, promise.

I passed on the bar crawl and Pride in the Street, one because neither one really appealed to me (although I did want to see one of the opening acts for Pride in the Street), but also due to dealing with getting my new car.

So Sunday I head downtown for the Pride March, and pull into the garage, which is awesome since my new car is a sub-compact, I can park practically anywhere!  I was texting a friend about plans for the day as I was walking towards the Blvd, and as luck would have it, we ran into each other.  We hugged and caught up for a few minutes on the street before I headed down to the staging area for the parade.

I walked with the community service group I volunteer with, Gay4Good.  So I had on a t-shirt that had our logo on the back, and on the front, the words “Good Gay.”  And as a side note, I bought the gray version because the text is orange, and buying the black one was too much like rooting for the Flyers and I just couldn’t do it.

Anyway, I was there a bit early so I wandered around checking out some of the other groups.  I was surprised by the variety of corporate groups: Macy’s, Starbucks, UPMC, Highmark (more about that later) and more sent groups.  And while I think some will say the corporate creep diminishes Pride, I think it’s important to see that there are companies out there that are so equality-minded, so I didn’t mind it too much, especially seeing all the people each one of those groups brought.

Other groups included the SEIU, Pittsburgh gay hockey, softball, AIDS Taskforce, Roller Derby and a group (which I still don’t understand totally, but they were selling books and stuff afterwards) called You=Love.  But they had a lot of really cool signs and they gave me some stickers, so I have to like them.

We were between the hockey league and the AIDS Taskforce, and we also walked with the Toonseum and Arcade Comedy Theater.  We had cards and stickers to pass out.  We were supposed to be walking with Mayor Ravenstahl, which put us at number two in the order (Dykes on Bikes is always first), but he pulled out which knocked us back to 92nd.

As the parade started, we walked through the rest of the staging area up the Boulevard of the Allies and then took a left onto Grant.  At the corner, there was a small handful of protesters as well as a couple police officers.  And thankfully in front of the protesters were supporters with flags, signs and bullhorns, blocking them out.  And that was the only negativity I saw the entire day.

Walking down Grant Street was a bit strange, as the other side was open to traffic, and the rain started in earnest at that point, but the greatest moment was turning down onto Fifth Avenue.

We turned down, and both sides were packed with screaming supporters, friends and family members.  Two groups ahead of us was the gay volleyball league and they had a float with a speaker system, so between their music and volleyballs being constantly set, the balloons from most of the groups and all the flags on the side and the sheer amount of noise from the crowd, it was just an awesome moment.

The rest of the parade was a lot of smiling and laughing, hugs and dancing, and passing out a lot of stickers, as well as ending up totally drenched.  After we passed the grandstand and then Heinz Hall, it kind of ended abruptly, which was odd, but we avoided traffic and looped back up to Liberty for PrideFest.

If I thought I couldn’t get wetter, I was wrong, but I wandered the booths and food stands and had a good time.  I ran into some more friends, and we talked, mostly about the strange situation of Highmark and UPMC having dueling booths caddy-corner to each other.  You could kind of feel the resentment between them as they handed out free stuff, which just made it awkward for everyone, most of all, Pittsburgh.

I also took the time to rectify a mistake: the fact that I’ve never been to the Arts Festival (which I’m sure is why it was monsooning).  I saw a couple things I liked, but didn’t buy anything, I mostly wanted to see the fountain at Point State Park, which looks beautiful.

I wandered some of the newly opened trails (even since the Venture Outdoors Festival) and then picked up the T, mostly to get out of the rain for a few minutes, and took it back to Wood Street before heading back to my car.

So all in all, it was a great day, and just an awesome experience.

Joe My God has a recurring post that does a fantastic job explaining Pride, why it started, why it’s still vital and why it shouldn’t disappear:

Because even if Pride doesn’t change many minds in the outside world, it’s our PARTY, darlings. It’s our Christmas, our New Year’s, our Carnival. It’s the one day of the year that all the crazy contingents of the gay world actually come face to face on the street and blow each other air kisses. And wish each other “Happy Pride!” Saying “Happy Pride!” is really just a shorter, easier way of saying “Congratulations on not being driven completely batshit insane! Well done, being YOURSELF!”

Make sure to head over and read the whole thing, it’s worth it.

All my best,

Mike