Open hearts, open minds, open doors

"Bring your joys, bring your burdens, all you rich and poor.
Open hearts, open minds, open hearts, open doors"



I marched in my first Pride parade this past weekend. As I have never even attended such a festival before, I was a little nervous. As our group lined up and waited for the parade to begin, we filled rainbow helium balloons and watched the entire spectrum of gaydom file by us: drag queens and kings, flag boys, leather riders, the Pride Band, and all manner of symbolic furry beasts. I suppose that some of the participants were trying to be shocking, but it didn't work. The only shocking thing is the realization that most of the drag queens carry off 3 inch heels much better than I ever will. More disappointment, than shocking, really...but then again, they have more practice.

I watched as bejeweled head-dresses (Vegas!) accompanied by mustachioed men in black leather lederhosen, and thought only "I wonder if those get hot?" Fashion sense aside, the parade soon started. Once I reached the starting point, I was struck by the sheer number of people lining the street. (Papers estimated the attendance at over 100,000!)I saw thousands of people lining the streets, and I had heard horror stories of angry parade protesters from years past, and I was suddenly terrified that I was about to be lead to the lions.

I could hear a loud commotion up ahead, but couldn't see what was going on because we were we turning the corner onto the main street. The crush of humanity on the main drag (no pun intended) was nearly overwhelming. In some places along the street, people were nearly 20 deep, straining to get a glimpse of the parade. The loud rumbling that I had heard in the background was getting louder, and becoming more clear... people were cheering! Tens of thousands of people were clapping and cheering in support of the parade marchers. When the name of our church that I was marching with went over the parade loud speaker as we passed the "grandstand", a huge thunderous applause started and I could hear the people yelling "thank you" and cheering. I passed a woman in her thirties holding a sign that said "Daughter of a Lesbian", and we made eye contact as we passed her position. She mouthed "thank you" as tears rolled down her cheeks.

We passed dozens of people who were teary-eyed, no doubt for the same reason I was- there's comfort and relief in knowing that you're not alone. Many people came up to us after the parade and said how much it meant to them that a church was so supportive, and total strangers thanked us for participating. The few protesters I eventually saw looked fearful and alone...oh the irony. As I finished the evening, I finally understood why it's called "pride", and I was never so proud to be part of something so profound.