pride weekend!

pride weekend in vancouver - very exciting! shiny queer people everywhere, and people dressed up pretty. i went to the dyke march down the drive on saturday, which was fun. it was all pretty low key and DIY. lots of dogs and pushers, maybe a thousand people altogether. it was a totally cool crowd, though it made me miss my vortex *bad*. this is what chicory made of the festival afterwards:
though, honestly, he shouldn't be sulking: he had a constant stream of women fawning over him and great music to listen to. a bunch of us went to the after party at a local hall that night, which was, uh, interesting. the music was a bit odd. but, yes, fun to dress up and go out, y'know.

on sunday was the big pride march down town, which was a much more elaborate and corporate affair. lots of loud music and buff men in tight undies. the parade was*huge* - it took two and a half hours to pass, and the streets on either side were packed with spectators. it was beautifully sunny, and we all fried. (except me cos am anal about sunscreening. note to mother). there were very many cool things:

dykes on bikes


kings


and queens


hockey players

the roller derby

look! they really do have little yellow school buses! they're not usually this sparkly or politically active, though.


proud PFLAGers


filipino queers



bridezilla bush married to war and homophobia, with stephen H the blushing bridesmaid (stephen harper is the canadian PM)

we wandered round the festival tents for a bit afterwards, admiring the many pretty things for sale and the wide range of political and activist communities represented. it was very nice to be in such a huge queer and queer-friendly crowd, as i've had an unusual number of men shouting at me on the street or from cars lately. it's kinda like being at critical mass - sometimes you need to be a big crowd of allies in order to go back to the outside world.

chicory and i have spent a quiet and pleasant day at home today, except for an excursion to trout lake (i'm dogsitting for the weekend). i've read lots of theory (dickens and the death of the mother and why it's anachronistic to use freudian theory on victorian novels) and started an essay plan for my caribbean paper. next i shall read "goblin market" in order to whip up a presentation for tomorrow.

happy pride, everyone!