Monday, June 25, 2007

Marching With Corazon



When a heterosexual buddy asked if we wanted to watch the Gay Pride Parade on Sunday with him...



...I replied, "God, no, it's way too long and boring. Let's march in it instead."



So, a trio of us headed for the headwaters of the parade at Spear and Market, checking out all the people queueing up, with politicians standing in vehicles, scantily clad dancers on floats, and earnest organizations proclaiming they were gay/lesbian/transgender, etc.



After decades of putting up with stops for traffic crossing Market Street, the parade finally moves without interruption, but the various contingents still seem to have a hard time keeping together...



...so that there are occasional huge gaps where the three of us found ourselves the star attraction as we hurried to catch up with the next group.



Our goal was to find the float with the best live music and march alongside them...



...and we eventually found it in the "Corazon de Mision" (Heart of the Mission) contingent...



...with its beautiful musicians...



...of every color and gender...



...banging out the beat for wonderful dancers.



At the end of the parade, I asked a policeman why he had imprisoned all the people on the other side of the fence, and he said, "They think it's you that's in prison but I guess it's all a matter of perspective."

2 comments:

janinsanfran said...

Marching in it has got to be better than watching. Looks like you had a good day. :-)

For the umpteenth year in a row, I managed to be out of town.

Anonymous said...

I've always felt that the best way to see a parade (especially one as big as the Pride parade) is to be in it. Looks like a beautiful day and a nice big crowd.