The Spirit of Pride

In case you missed the Pride Parade on Sunday in NYC below are some pictures I took during the first 2 hours. Although the parade was to run for over 5 hours I'd forgotten sun screen and did not want to repeat the burn experience from San Fran again so I didn't spend the entire day out and about. I also had work to do at home so that's it for Sunday.
Saturday I went to The Spirit of Pride at St. John the Divine (follow the above link to their site) which was fascinating. I'd opened up Time Out magazine on Saturday when I was having my lunch (Salad Nicoise) to see what was going on over the weekend and spotted this event. I finished my meal, jumped through the shower and hopped in a cab up to the Cathedral. There were many wonderful speakers and clergy representing just about every religion in attendance. The turn out was less than I expected but I'm hoping that's because it wasn't very well advertised and not because there are so many in our community that just don't care. Terrance McNally was introduced by his companion Tom and it was heartwarming to hear the amount of love that they have for each other. Mr. McNally was witty, forthcoming and interesting. When telling of first coming to NYC in the early 60's he spoke of how different life was and what limited options there were for gays. He made a joke about there not being any options for lesbians but went on to say perhaps that's because there were no lesbians at that time which brought down the house which was 1/2 female. Marsha K Nelson, the Head of The Cathedral School and here partner Gigi Madore, MD did a lovely speach with their son joining them on the podium. Just seening a positive loving same sex couple with a child was strong political statement in itself. I don't mean to belittle the contibutions of the many other excellent speakers by exclusion as everyone was superb but my favorite was The Right Reverend Gene Robinson, Bishop of New Hampshire. His address was intelligent, thought provoking, and most surprisingly very funny. I don't know what preconcieved notions I had but a Bishop with a sense of humor was not something that I was expecting. He said that first of all he wanted to thank his partner whom he had stand up and wave to the audience. He gripped the podium and looked very seriously at us clearly preparing to say something both profound and important, "Isn't he cute!?" the Right Reverand deadpaned. Just the right note for a preacher and one I've never heard before. I highly recommend hearing him speak if the opportunity ever presents itself.
After the benediction and closing song (Somewhere from West Side Story sung by all, very queer and really touching at the same time) we were asked to meet up in the middle and talk to each other. Despite wanting to introduce myself to quite a few of the awesome speakers I totally had an attack of shyness and so booked out of the Cathedral which was a real shame as I don't know the next time I'll be crossing paths with Terrance McNally.....
It being such a beautiful day I decided to walk down and across the park. Not however taking into account that this was the first time this season that I was wearing a favorite pair of Dolce and Gabanna sandals so although a georgous walk in portions of the park I'd never been before, ouch! Nothing a soak in cold water could not heal upon my return home.