Dispatch from Bellingham...Seattle Pride, 2011

Dispatch from Bellingham…27 June, 2011.

It is, as I write, a mostly overcast day so far…much different than yesterday, which was sunny for most of the morning and into late afternoon.  Not too warm, either…low 70’s, which seems roughly normal for this time of year here.  In all, it was a good day for a parade…which is where I spent the day.  Yesterday was Seattle Pride, and I marched with the Bellingham Pride contingent.  Alas, by the end of the march, my feet hurt so badly that I could not enjoy the few minutes we spent at the main celebration at Seattle Center.  Perhaps it was because it is a large parade, or perhaps because of less than stellar organization, our group was near the end of well over 100 units, and waited for more than 2 hours for our part of the parade to get underway.  By the time we made it to the main gathering of parade watchers, many had already left or had headed to the party at Seattle Center.  Still…I’m glad I went, tootsies and all.

Seattle is considered the 3^rd largest Pride parade in the country…behind San Francisco and New York, and I can believe it.  The outdoor stage at Seattle Center was packed with folks, and around it were scattered the booths…commercial and non-profit…that are such an important part of these gay gatherings, especially the non-profits.  From aids-awareness, through activity groups like the Men’s  and Women’s Choruses, to PFLAG (my favorite), diverse organizations make connection with the larger LGBTQ community.  I was even interviewed for an anonymous survey about AIDS awareness and sexual activity…but being a newbie to the area, probably not much info for their purposes.  

Bellingham will hold its considerably smaller celebration next month, culminating in a parade on the 10^th.  I will participate again, for it was at last year’s that I met the folks with whom I walk each Sunday around Lake Padden, and made the contact that brought me to the local PFLAG chapter, with whom I marched in the Ski-to-Sea parade earlier this year.  The end of the parade will occur at the site of the Farmer’s Market, and will feature booths and entertainment…including an entertainer from RuPaul’s Drag show. 

 

I’ve been in several of these events over the years…starting with one of the largest in D.C.’s history quite some time ago.  They are carnival in high-heels and leather, motorbikes and tiaras, and have a marvelous, restorative joyfulness about them, even when the message is overtly political and the climate less than friendly.  Smiles abound, hugs abound, and one has a sense of community so diametrically opposed to a mob-mentality.  These are peaceful celebrations of an oppressed community’s affirmation of their love of one another, and while there is always a playful undertone (sometimes rather blatant, too) of sexuality, it is not the most important message.  Loving one another is far more important.  The recent passage of the right to marry in New York echoed all the way to this coast, and I could see in the young man’s face who was gathering donations for the Right to Marry campaign, that there was an increased hopefulness and enthusiasm.

I’ve often wondered if these parades would continue if the LGBTQ community finally obtained all the civil rights of most Americans…would there be a need to gather in joyous self-affirmation?  I hope they do, and I hope other communities which, like this one, have known prejudice and oppression, celebrate publicly and, in doing so, invite the spectators to share in the celebration.  Be they “Scottish Games” or Mardi Gras, or First-Nation Pow-Wows…such gatherings are expressions of our need and enjoyment of community.  They need not be exclusionary…most are not.  Instead they are reminders and affirmations of belonging…and of life itself.  As personal electronic media make it possible to live in ever greater isolation, connecting through little boxes held to the ears, or on laps or desks, these street celebrations become ever more important.  While friends may come and share these experiences, even more important are the strangers that one can meet and befriend.  The extreme diversity represented by the marchers and celebrators invites an expansion of one’s own sense of possibilities.  That the weirdest of the participants are accepted fully gives me hope that tolerance can increase in our society.  No one needed to approve or join with any of the diverse expressions of individuality, and all managed to move together, laugh and sing and chant together and party at the end together.  We are, as Johan Huizinga called us “Homo ludens”…man who plays.  In that play, I think, we are most human…and humane.

Cheers to all who march.  Cheers to all who wave from the side-lines.  Let us all play some more.