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Health & Fitness

Gay Pride 2011

A personal and historical report of LGBT PRIDE in 2011.

On June 11, 2011 Boston Pride celebrated for the 41st year its commemoration of the beginning of homosexual (gay) liberation. The anniversary is aligned with the Stonewall uprising in response to several issues. First, there was the recent death of Judy Garland, beloved of the gay community. More immediate was the police raid of a gay bar run by the New York ‘mob’ called: The Stonewall Inn. How it got that name is unknown.

On June 27, 1969, a police raid of Stonewall sparked several days of riots and demonstrations, with counter actions by the police. It is important to note that this particular bar was a known hangout for Puerto Rican drag queens. It was this group along with others that resisted arrest and began to taunt the police for picking on gay bars and gay people. Gay people had rights and wanted them respected.

For almost three decades, the June Pride day events took the tone of a political event, wherein gays and lesbians protested the lack of equality in treatment and legal protections, as well as celebrated the joy of expressing to the wider community that we were not going to stay hidden ‘in the closet,’ as had been true for centuries.

Now, with the wider acceptance of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender, (LGBT), citizens within the country, and with the interest from LGBT people shifting more away from protest to inclusion and celebration, the events have moved into much more of a party atmosphere, with a week long schedule of events. In Boston, on June 3, 2011, the Rainbow flag was once again raised at Boston City Hall, where it will remain for the rest of June.

On the day of pride, I was riding into Boston with my partner and pet dog wondering what the weather would be like. My partner had heard on the television the previous night that it was to be cloudy with rain showers beginning after 4PM. We noticed that at 9AM there was rain coming down fairly heavily. We put on our favorite radio station, to hear them report that indeed it would be cloudy all day with rain coming after 4PM. Switching on the windshield wipers we were shaking our heads and now unconvinced of the veracity of either of the forecasters.

My purpose coming in so early — the parade does not begin until 12 noon -— was to set up a vending booth on the plaza at Boston City Hall. The political organization for which I am co-chair has for many years now set up a booth to educate the public and sell ‘stuff’ for fundraising purposes. We were in fact earlier than past years in getting to the plaza. The rain at this point had reached ‘heavy’ status, and I without rain gear was moving a cart filled with storage containers in one hand, a suitcase on rollers with another and carrying a cup of Dunkin’ decaf in the third — well, in this case I bit down on the edge of the plastic cup and rolled my wares over to our tent covered booth.

There were some occasional  breaks in the rain, but for the most part the day was wet and so cold that I bought an additional sweatshirt from the official PRIDE commemorative booth.

Despite the gusts of wind and almost continuous rain, action at the vending festival area was quite busy. The smell of onions, peppers and sausages being grilled whiffing  through the air began to draw me slowly over to the food booths. Although sorely tempted, I held back retreating to the booth where a box of granola bars was enough to sate me at least until the party later.

Not long into the afternoon, my partner came by with the dog who had walked some distance in the pouring rain. I’ve never seen the poor dog so miserable. He did look like a soaked dishrag, and was shivering from the cold air. I went over to a CVS nearby and picked up some paper towels and sent them both home to leave the dog in the protection of the condo and the comfort of our fully leather couch which sometimes he allows us to sit on.

Back at the booth, various members of the Board of Directors of the group came by to help out and bring the latest political gossip. Sorry, none can be shared here right now, except that we are all convinced that Sara Palin is not going to run for the Republican nomination for president. There is a rumor circulating that she is probably going to run for a (vacated?) senate seat from Arizona later on. Ahhh, I just love speculation.

Around 3:30 PM my co-chair and I were off with our organization’s banner to our Pride fundraiser. We gathered at the 21st Amendment Bar and Grill, which I happily give some product placement advertisement for their excellent service and awesome food. The speeches were lively and the room was filled with many friends and acquaintances. Indoors the rain was forgotten, the company warm and a perfect ending to this annual holiday for LGBT people.

We aren’t selfish about celebrating our holiday, so feel free to come by any PRIDE celebration and be around us, a wild and crazy, liberated and still fighting LGBT community.

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