Happy Pride Weekend! I’ve been watching the parade, hanging out with friends, and going to the festival. Previous years, I took tons of photos, but this year, I tweeted like mad, observing the parade and some other thoughts. Here are some Pride survival tips I cam up while hanging out at Filter Coffeehouse on University Avenue. I wish I came up with them sooner, but they’re all common sense. And we all know what happens to common sense in real life. These tips still apply tomorrow and will help you in any city, so here they are:
gay
15
Jul 10
San Diego Pride is… This Weekend
I keep forgetting… or I just keep putting out of my mind that Pride is this weekend in San Diego. I will take lots of pictures and load them on Flickr. The parade never fails to dazzle and the extreme fundy protesters never fail to show up at the 8th Avenue Fire Station, picketing right behind the police on horseback and horses’ arses and piles of horse apples. Too bad it’s not the Phelps, who like to go on the Pride circuit, denouncing all the homosexual sinners. They’ll show up full force at Comic Con next week, protesting idolatry and not stopping to think there are tons of gays at that even too. Getting back to this Saturday, there will be lots of color, festivities, friends, and lots of visitors celebrating with us. Should be fun.
31
Jan 09
Girl, Please!
Even with my unconventional hours of teaching, I don’t have time to tune in to Oprah. This past Wednesday, she interviewed Ted Haggard, nellie closet queen and defrocked Evangelical minister, and the videos are featured in an article in the Huffington Post.
9
Jan 09
Unite to Repeal DOMA
In the spirit of the Repeal DOMA Rally tomorrow in San Diego, San Francisco, and other cities, here is the Life and Times of Harvey Milk, presented by Hulu.Com. Note: This is the 1984 documentary on Harvery Milk, not the feature film with Sean Penn, which is fabulous. Do go the theaters and pay the $10 to see Milk. Also, take action regarding DOMA, whether it is attending the rally or writing letters to Obama’s transitional office.
Hat tip to Brian for posting the vid earlier this week.
30
Oct 07
Gay Enclaves – Passé?
There’s an article in the NY Times this morning about diminishing gay enclaves. Some of them have become quite famous over the years – Castro District, West Hollywood, Dupont Circle, and locally Hillcrest. Gentrification and the internet are some of the factors that have contributed to their decline in recent years. Are gay enclaves or “gay ghettos” still relevant and/or necessary?
29
Sep 07
A Last Supper: Folsom Street Fair
Here is an image for your Saturday morning viewing pleasure.
This ad for the Folsom Street Fair apparently angered some ex-gay and fundie activists. No surprise there. However, a blogger on Ex-Gay Watch was also offended.
As for the fundies (and the “no longer gay” closet cases), I wonder what offended them the most:
a. Jesus is black.
b. Jesus is gay.*
c. Jesus is surrounded by gay men, women, leather men, drag queens.
d. All of the above.
The poster on Ex-Gay Watch has a view that many gay conservatives and religious types hold. This writer is concerned about the appropriation of a sacred image, which is obviously Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper. Appropriation of this iconic painting as blasphemy is very superfluous. The real concern of this blogger is that the ad endorses “medically dangerous acts, its inversion of the values of faith, love and self-sacrifice.”
As much as I can appreciate his perspective, to waste energy taking exception to this image is an “inversion of the values of faith, love and self-sacrifice.” Jesus would would not be as concerned about this image as he would with the fundies, the ex-gays, and even the gayly pious. The people depicted in this photo are the unacceptable of modern society and even the mainstream gay community. Anyone familiar with the Gospels knows that Christ reached out to the outcasts and those the righteous and holy rejected. Somewhere along the line, modern Christians, even gay ones, have failed to follow Christ’s example.
*only an inference, nothing else.
2
Aug 07
How Frakked Up Is This?
Just read this in the Advocate this morning: Baptist minister charged with indecent exposure. On some level, I don’t want to feel sorry for him because he may had some role, however small, in perpetuating homophobia and uptightness about sex in general. I do feel sorry because A: he’s a victim of his own priggish mentality, and B: he will be out of work soon. He should have thought about B before doing this:
- Driving under the influence.
- Public urination at a carwash (especially in front of children).
- Wearing a skirt at the incident.
- Sexually propositioning (presumably male) police officers when they arrived at the scene.
He’ll probably get rushed off into ex-gay rehab, never to be heard from again.
Update: This video, “Ted Haggard is Completely Heterosexual” seems appropriate:
2
Aug 07
How Frakked Up Is This?
Just read this in the Advocate this morning: Baptist minister charged with indecent exposure. On some level, I don’t want to feel sorry for him because he may had some role, however small, in perpetuating homophobia and uptightness about sex in general. I do feel sorry because A: he’s a victim of his own priggish mentality, and B: he will be out of work soon. He should have thought about B before doing this:
- Driving under the influence.
- Public urination at a carwash (especially in front of children).
- Wearing a skirt at the incident.
- Sexually propositioning (presumably male) police officers when they arrived at the scene.
He’ll probably get rushed off into ex-gay rehab, never to be heard from again.
Update: This video, “Ted Haggard is Completely Heterosexual” seems appropriate:
23
Jul 07
San Diego Pride Weekend
Yes, I’m using a tactic to boost ratings that Chris, Brian, and I love so much: a show of skin. Usually, one picture suffices, but I’ve treated you to a triptych. Oh, and there is a point to this. It was Pride Weekend in San Diego and there was no shortage of skin. There were plenty of clothed people, but posting nearly naked men is more fun.
My friends Scott, Jaylen, and Kay staked out a table in Starbuck’s outdoor patio on University and Cleveland at 9:00am, Saturday morning. Some more friends would join them, but I could only chat with them briefly. I was marching with St. Paul’s Cathedral in the parade. I would see them when the St. Paul’s group passed by them.
Since I was marching with St. Paul’s, that meant waiting for a couple of hours at the Hillcrest DMV before the parade. There were approximately 50-60 people who showed up to march, which was a larger turnout from the two or three previous years. Integrity had organized the parade contingent in the past; however, this was the first time the Cathedral was wholly represented. Many of the gay membership was present, but many others showed up to show their support. Clergy also participated. The Reverend Canon Allisyn Thomas (pictured with Martin holding the Gay Agenda sign) has long dreamed of having a large fantastic float, something that represents the Cathedral. No big float yet, but there were two silver convertibles and plenty of people for starters. Hopefully, Allisyn can have her float next year and will be big and fabulous.
Left to right: The Reverend Canon Andrew Rank, St. Paul’s members, the Very Reverend Scott Richardson and the Reverend Canon Allisyn Thomas, my friend Daniel and me, one of the cars used for the parade.
Since waiting for the parade to begin took a couple of hours, I wandered (not too far) and took some pictures. A fun float a few places ahead of us was Hairspray Salon, which had a Flintstones theme this year:
I couldn’t resist catching these t-shirt captions:
Left: We know what he likes. Right: We know how he likes it.
Here are some people I met during my wandering around:
Left to right: Me with Scott from MCC (not to be confused with my other friend Scott), Priest with Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence, me with Miss San Diego Rodeo, and some Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.
When it came time for the parade to start, Tutti of Lipps sent us off with a bang. She bantered with us about the time when Lipps was across the street from St. Paul’s, how Lipps is now the holiest place in their new location, and what does one call a female priest: priestess? priestessess? priest? At certain points, commentators told the spectators of the floats, but Tutti was the most fun.
Tutti of Lipps sends St Paul’s off.
Our group was very well received on the parade route. Well, not by everyone:
These nutjobs show up on 8th and University every year. This is the one spot protesters are allowed their First Amendment rights. Their numbers used to be larger, but it seems like the really cute, but loudly homophobic guys came out of the closet and left. Who knows? Hopefully, they will get love wherever they find it. They certainly won’t find it behind a horse’s ass.
After the parade, I got to meet in person Ted, one of my blog friends. Ted was one of the first people I “met” out in the blogosphere” earlier this year when I began interacting with other bloggers on a regular basis. He’s a writer, teacher, anthroplogist, doctoral candidate, a fellow holder of an MFA, and along with his husband, an editor of From Boys to Men: Gay Men Write About Growing Up. I got to meet his partner Rob, who will be a co-worker of mine in the fall, and I got to meet a mutual acquaintance of ours I haven’t seen in years. Our interaction was brief, but I don’t think I’ve seen the last of Ted.
No pride event is complete without token straight boys. God bless them, especially when they’re cute. This guy was in front of me in line at Chipotle’s on 7th and University and I couldn’t resist taking his picture. One of his girlfriends helped me out with taking this pic by telling him to own what’s written on his arm. After I got this pic and ordered my burrrito, I met my friends for lunch. Chipotle’s was crowded and we couldn’t sit with our group for a while, so Scott, Daniel, and I sat outside. After a while, we joined the rest of the group inside and met up with Amber and Julie, who could only be there for a short while.
The festival was like any other festival I’ve been to, only bigger. This time, the grounds extended to 6th and Laurel and there were more beer gardens than before. As usual, there were many obscure bands, but the headlining band was Erasure on Sunday night.
Like the True Colors set of a month ago, Erasure’s set was a truncated one. Given that is was more practical to take a minimalist approach, Andy Bell and Vince Clark avoided the flamboyant theatrical devices that typically accompany their shows. While Bell and company didn’t do many costume changes, they did have some interesting outfits. Bell and Clark wore Andy Warhol patterns. Vince Clark had a Debbie Harry t-shirt underneath his jacket, while Andy Bell sported a Warhol print of Debbie Harry on his silver jacket. Vince Clark masqueraded as Andy Warhol with his wig, and the back-up divas wore fluorescent cheongsams and wigs to match. They played material from their new album along with some standard crowd pleasers from the 1980′s, but Erasure delivered a show that ultimately satisfied festival goers.
See more of my Pride pictures on Flickr.
