So I did it! I ventured into Toronto for the big PRIDE parade. Wow...talk about crowded. At one point, there were so many people trying to walk both directions on Church street that we all came to a standstill. Took 20 minutes to walk half a block.
I do admit that it was nice to simply be around such a mass of gay people - out, proud, and comfortable with who they are. It was nice to walk along and see same-sex couples holding hands. But in general, I was neither shocked nor inspired - both emotions which I anticipated given what I'd heard about such celebrations.
First of all, I had been led to believe that a PRIDE festival was the ultimate den of iniquity. I was expecting excessive amounts of nudity and lewdness. There was the odd person dressed a little more risque than you might find walking down Main St. on a regular weekday, but in general, people were just people. A few more rainbows in sight than normal, but nothing that made my jaw drop.
Second, I was expecting to come away inspired. To me, it seems that there must be a wealth of resources within the gay community, particularly when it comes to artistic endeavors. Maybe its a stereotype, but I thought we tended to be fairly creative people. I was looking forward to a celebration of that creativity - to see dance and music and art that championed the best of what we are and can be. I was disappointed.
The booths and even the floats in the parade itself were of two main types. The first was companies and organizations who wanted to jump on the inclusivity bandwagon and say, hey, look at us...we welcome members of the LGBTQ community. That's great. I'm happy that society has moved towards being open and accepting. We should definitely celebrate this progress. But it felt more like advertising to me, more like a calculated move not to end up on the wrong side of a growing community of potential customers (don't get me wrong, I'm sure many individuals within these companies are genuinely supportive).
The second main type seemed to be community groups within the LGBTQ community. These entries consisted of a bunch of people holding hand-made signs and sometimes coordinated t-shirts. I was happy to know that they existed, but I could have learned about them and their services more efficiently on a website with links. Again, this felt like advertising.
There were a few groups that were simply representing various facets of our comminity whether that was dykes, or trans, or third world, etc. These I thought were great. To be able to walk proud in front of such a crowd and say, hey, this is who I am - that's awesome. I wish there had been more of that.
All in all, I walked away puzzled by what such an event accomplished. In this earlier post, I pondered what it meant to be 'proud'. I considered what role PRIDE celebrations might play in generating and sustaining that emotion. Now that I've actually been to one, I am no closer to any answers. Did going to this years PRIDE parade increase my sense of pride in being a lesbian, in being part of the LGBTQ community? No, it really didn't.
I'm not sure what else to say. I went, I saw, I came home. I will say that those who went to the parade are among the most dedicated people I know - four hours of standing in blistering hot conditions. Wow!
