An elderly couple marched down the street proclaiming their "marriage" of 30+ years...
...along with a contingent of lesbian LAPD policewomen.
The coolest moment for me was the entrance midway of the Palm Springs High School marching band into the parade. This group plays in virtually every function that marches up Palm Canyon Boulevard, but I was surprised to see the local public high school lending their presence to a still controversial event, and they looked like they were enjoying themselves immensely.
It brought home the fact that most young people aren't as stupid about gay stuff as previous generations...
...and it was enormously heartening.
I insisted on marching in the parade with some contingent, and we ended up joining the PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) group. Half a block into our masquerade, the Canadian woman above turned to us and said, "My son and his partner couldn't make it from Los Angeles today, so you can be my sons."
The Coachella Valley is still a Republican stronghold with too many hidebound Christians...
...but watching parents supporting their teenaged gay children by marching happily past hateful signage together was seriously inspirational.
Lord, is Psalms 5:5 the best verse the protesters could come up with?
ReplyDelete"The boastful shall not stand before Your eyes; You hate all who do iniquity."
I cannot tell you how happy these posts made me. To see Gay Pride in my home town. And my high school marching band. I love your blog, thanks for doing all this work for us and sharing your world with all of us.
ReplyDeleteDear affinity: Thanks for those kind words. The small town feeling of the parade was part of what made the whole experience so sweet.
ReplyDeleteDear Donald: That is a weird bible verse to be quoting, isn't it? It sounds more suited to being recited at Dubya, our recent disastrous president who was both boastful and who did mucho iniquity.
i love that they are at our parade year after year. and the crowd always goes wild with applause for them. it's great watching their faces light up when that occurs.
ReplyDelete