Pride Come And Gone

Another Pride, another rainbow flag. This past weekend was Chicago Gay Pride weekend, featuring the lovely Pride Parade on Sunday. Initially, we were suppose to march in the parade with some friends, but due to some illness (ok… hungoverness…), I wasn't feeling up to snuff, so we initially tried to find a nice place to watch the parade. After that was a complete bust, I convinced my boyfriend to head home with me to get some rest and recover in the hopes of coming out later to party some more. The parade couldn't have been much different than years past in any case, right?

A long nap held me till early afternoon, at which point I was finally feeling better. We decided to turn on some TV while we woke up and were completely surprised when we saw that the parade was being broadcast on TV, and even more so when we realized that it wasn't on some random local access channel, but on ABC!

Maybe they've been airing the Pride Parade for years, I honestly couldn't tell you, but it was a total shock to both of us to see that our happy little parade was being broadcast for all Chicagoland to see. Every bit of it was on there, from the politicians grandstanding about how they love the gays (while convieniently forgetting that they should probably do more than just show up at a parade) to the float for the local bathhouse which featured some pretty minimally clothed gentleman. OK, they probably weren't gentlemen, but still.

So how was the Pride parade experience via cable? Well… different. The hosts/esses were not really gay, and it seemed that they weren't really familiar with Pride Parades in general, although they were nice enough and pretty typical parade commentators. It was nice to see that the "guy on the ground" was asking pressing questions of our politicians while en route, and it was very nice to not be smothered by the crowds.

But all that meant that it wasn't really the total Pride experience. Pride is meant to be enjoyed in person, even if you aren't in the crowd actively watching the progression. Sure, people can get pushy and it can get a warm in the crowd, but isn't it all worth it when you can watch drag queens on stilts, hot men in bikini thongs, dykes on bikes, and possibly spend the afternoon flirting with and courting the man you'll later decide to spend your life with?