HAPPY PRIDE! (I KNOW I'M LATE)

Saturday evening I stayed up in bed until 2am eagerly waiting for morning to come so I could rise and head out to see Vancouver's annual Pride Parade. For the last 6 years, I was never able to give up or swap my work shift to check out Pride, but my job no longer prevents me from celebrating alongside the LGBT community because I'm unemployed! By 9:30am Sunday I was wide awake, showered , dressed and ready to go! Along with Iain and his girlfriend Janet, we went to meet Angie downtown for some breakfast at Joe's before heading towards the parade route. On the way down, Shaun met up with us and we found a really good spot along Pacific at Broughton Street, just two blocks away from the end of the parade. We managed to catch all of the two and a half hours of floats, bikers, marchers, and dancers in every colour of the rainbow. I loved every single moment of it, and wished I'd seen the parade years before.

After the parade, we all sort of parted ways, but Shaun and I headed down to English Bay to meet with his friend Steven. Steven and a group of his friends had been celebrating since the beginning of the weekend and some of them were decked out in leather and costume. At some point, I turned to Shaun and declared, "Pride is like Christmas, only way better!" I think it's true. Everyone was in a proper good mood and nobody cared what anybody looked like. Everyone looked fabulous. Hugs and kisses were exchanged between strangers, and everyone was all smiles and being considerate and shit. I really had a fun time.

P.S. Funny story: At some point during the parade, the RCMP officers marched by and a guy from a group of young gay men standing behind me said excitedly, "Oooh, I really want to do something baaad right now!" His friend turned to him, nodded at me, and said, "Well, there's a straight girl standing right here."

His reply? "Um, no. That's just too naughty."

I spy Mayor Gregor Robertson.

Iain and Angie! Iain's brother Duncan was in the parade.

My friends Tatyana and Leighton ended up being in the same group (CampOUT!) for the parade. Taty is in the denim skirt, black vest and pink shirt; Leighton looks like a boyscout with a green neckerchief.

It's true.

The most badass drag queen on a bike.

Yeah!
The CTV float.

Dykes on bikes.

Glamorous and pretty.

Lots of drumming and music throughout the parade.

Steven at the festival down on English Bay.

Steven and Mark. Mark is Batwoman and he looks great in tights.

I think his name is Omar (he's a friend of a friend of Steven's), and he's a really cool guy. He listens to City & Colour and works as a hospital security guard in Calgary.