A Month of Gay Pride

The beginning of July marks the end of the official Month of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride, 2012 here in the US. What a great month it was. There is nothing like an official proclamation of merriment and celebration of gayness from your president to make you want to paint yourself rainbow and get out there and march arm in arm with the woman you love. The support brings joy to my female loving heart and fills me up with what this month is all about, Pride.

At other times of the year it can be easy to feel scared, targeted, and unwelcome as we watch politicians on our televisions campaign for the sanctity of marriage, or read the barrage of unfair and uninformed opinions and comments on social sites against all things gay. But, for one glorious month out of the year we feel a little more protected, and together we throw one hell of a party.

I've got a few years of Pride celebrations under my belt now but I remember my first Pride, San Francisco 2004. I spent hours making a t-shirt that I thought would label me lesbian and I daydreamed that I would stroll through that big crowd of people and some woman would take notice of me and my creative t-shirt and that would be the beginning of something wonderful. That didn't happen, but to be fair it was the beginning of something wonderful for me. It was the beginning of feeling comfortable with my gayness. It was the first time that I felt normal and unnoticed. You see, I was just another lesbian in a sea of gay people and finally there was much more to me, and that was a pretty awesome feeling.

I've been going to Pride ever since and this year got to attend two Pride celebrations with the woman I love. We met in person at Denver Pride three years ago and this year we celebrated in both Denver and San Francisco.

San Francisco Pride has exploded since 2004, I had a blast but at times the crowds were a bit much. The Dyke March which in the past was a bonafide march of respectfully rowdy lesbians starting from Dolores Park was this year tripled to a mass movement of marchers, drunkards, homeless, and queers not so much marching as taking advantage of the open road to linger, dance and party the night away.

Denver Pride was a lot smaller, but maybe more significant because it's my home and so many LGBT folks from around the state of Colorado make a pilgrimage to Denver on Pride weekend to feel that strength in numbers and celebrate one another. The Dyke March began as usual from Charlie's and was led down Colfax by a great number of Dykes on Bikes. Unlike SF, the Denver Dyke March remains fully lesbian, often lacking the enthusiasm some expect in a parade. But, what we do have is pride, and for those women who sadly may only feel comfortable holding hands with their partner in public for one month out of the year, it's one of the best feeling in the world.