We’re here, We’re queer, We’re soaking wet: Pride 2002. So yeah, it rained. A lot. From 9 am to 3 pm, it did not stop. And it was cold. And it was fun anyway. Despite my fears, very little commercialism was to be found. Likewise, very little bible-thumping was present, though what little existed was more than was necessary.

I did come away from the event with a few tiny philosophical issues, though. In fact, I noticed that everyone’s response to the haters who did show up offended me more than their actual presence did. Ignore them, yes; taunt them, by all means; but attempt to draw them into the discourse? No! I heard the capital-G word more times from the podium than I did from behind the barricades, and it frankly irritated me. Not because I have any problem with religious gay folks — I realize that their internal & external struggles are that much harder, and that they need that much more community support, though I do not believe that was the appropriate forum. It’s just that that was the only part of the rally that made me feel we were all playing to the cameras — to straight folks, to Betty and Joe Sixpack — instead of to our fellow queers. I realize that we need to reach those people, but not as much as we need to reach queer folk, present and not.

So yes, I believe community self-validation should be the focus of an event like this. But I also think we may have gone a bit over the top with that. “2, 4, 6, 8, gay is just as straight!” Well, duh. My personal philosophy is more along the lines of “We’re here, We’re queer, leave us the hell alone.”

So now that the requisite bitching is out of the way, I have to say that the whole thing was an absolute blast. Very rarely have I had an opportunity to be around so many gay people and so few fake people all at the same time. It was a working example of taking community out of the clubs, and it was wonderful. Once a year is not often enough to experience such a thing. I plan to look around for other gay groups locally who are trying to do something similar, even if it means having to play softball or something like that.

In the news:The State (inaccurate attendance figures)
WIS-TV (with video)