Capital gay Pride

Yesterday I went to the Capital Pride Parade. It was a very interesting experience and one that I personally enjoyed. Though the activity retained a festive characteristic it was very well put together and did not have many "exaggerated" elements that I was expecting in this kind of event; I don't know if that is a good tng or a bad thing...yet. It was full of contrasts and very much reflected the highly political atmosphere that always permeate DC. I'll come back to this in the end.

When I was in Madrid two years ago, I went to the pride parade there and though I was reluctant to go, I had a good time nonetheless. It was a very different experience from the one that I just went in DC. One of the main aspects of the Madrid parade was that big and little, local and international organizations related to LGBT issues were present in the floats; lesbian (in)visibility was highlighted at the parade (it was actually the theme of the whole event) and there seemed to be a great presence of lesbians in the floats. Another contrasting characteristic between the two was that while the event seemed to highlight very serious issues (mainly civil and sexual rights), it still had an element of playful debauchery and explicit challenge to mainstream norms; there were a great number of drag queens, leather gays, people in very minimal (nude and body painted, underwear, swimsuits) and revealing clothing. All of this existing parallel contrasted with the family environment that the parade encouraged; there were homosexual and heterosexual families with little children at the sidelines of the parade who were engaged with the floats and its participants.

In contrast the DC parade had an element of a big block party with a particular surreality to it. For one, the parade seemed to be aimed just to the LGBT community and rightfully so provided an outlet of lax playfulness to the everyday constraints of decorum and conduct; much like Latin American Carnivals that present an escape to everyday rightfulness and permit sinful behaviors just before lent starts. The music and floats seemed to be invite everyone to "just relax and chill" while showing everyone how diverse the DC and its surrounding areas really are. Despite this, there were no naked people, no body paint, nothing out of the ordinary except for the DC gay leather float (which had men in leather jocks at the least and other S&M clothing), a strip pole (with models that when taking into account that they were using a strip pole, might as well be wearing suits and dresses) and someone in underwear would appear once in a while. It was a very conservative LGBT party when compared to the one in Madrid, but the comparison might not be fair given the two very diffent contexts. Another aspect of the DC parade was the many (many) floats of politicians including incumbent mayor Fenty and others seeking (re)election this coming November, and the different Church's floats. Churches? in Gay Pride? At first it was just weird. Though I am not a big fan of religion I am respectful enough to not be too negative about it if not previously brought up. There were many floats, I did not count how many there were to be exact, but an educated guess would be about twenty floats; twenty floats were from churches encouraging diversity and acceptance in their communities across the DC area. Their message was clear: we accept you in our communities. I don't have further thoughts on this.

Going back to one of my original thoughts on this matter, it is obvious why that this event is highly politicized, full of religion, a cup of progressiveness and more goodies mixed in the batter. Inmigration equality had a float, as well as the controversial Human Rights Campaign along with the gay cowboys and the local gay sport bar. It seems that these organizations, which are based in DC, see these types of events to publicly bolster their claim as defenders of their 'subjects': the LGBTs, the immigrant LGBTs, the religious LGBTs, the LGBTs that are parents, the republican and democrat LGBTs, etc. DC is not a battleground, but it does have a cathartic characteristic to it in which one can come and bitch about what is perceived as wrong and try to get someone to pay attention to you...and this is what the DC pride parade missed: a social involvement with the community was downplayed in order to demonstrate the importance of DC as a political stronghold; much like one of the Two Towers of Middle Earth.

I wanted to see more social work and less politics, but pride still works and should be celebrated. Though I don't highly identify with "We're here, we're queer, get used to it", I do have things in common with other LGBTs; as such I felt the need for this reflection and to celebrate 'queerness' by being present, never invisible! Looking back this post is more of a reflection and right now I don't seem to have more opinions about the event. I wish more refection of this manner could be achieved. Therefore, in keeping with the style of previous posts, I will just present my unanswered questions and thoughts on the matter.

Other thoughts:

1. Is the pride movement in the US more conservative than in Spain (Europe)? I want to say yes...
2. Has 'pride' been more successful in being family friendly in Spain than here in the US?
3. Is it a positive thing that pride here is not as 'nude' and 'out there' as in other places? Am I just reproducing Phallic-WASP Ideology with such a statement? Again, did I do this when i refer to other expressions of pride as 'exaggerated' at the beginning of this post?