Pride Weekend Recap!

Thursday Night Pride Idol and Embassy Nightclub were hopping! The winner of Boston Pride Idol was a very talented young woman.

Friday Night Dyke March: The Dyke march was fabulous. Our "Liberation Not Assimilation" QueerToday.com stickers were a huge hit! We handed out several hundred. The non-corporate tone of the Dyke march is always refreshing. There were many anti-war signs and buttons to be found.

Saturday Pride Parade: We got up early to help put the coalition truck together. Our contingent was one of the biggest and loudest. The crowds went wild for our anti-war, pro-immigrant, queer signage. We had an amazingly beautiful diverse group of people involved, and I cannot wait until we make our voice even louder next year.

Later in the day I spoke at St. Paul’s Cathedral. My speech was about the importance of letting go of shame, and building coalitions with other groups. The audience loved the thought provoking messages I had to say. I was honored to be able to meet Reverend Irene Monroe, who writes "The Religion Thang" in InNewsWeekly. Her words are always so beautiful and true. I typically am not one for church, but the service was very uplifting.

Sunday June 11: MACY's PROTEST: Thirteen people attended our protest in front of Macy's on Sunday. We had a variety of clever signage and chants. Macy's employees stood silently watching us from across the street for the entire span of the protest. I went over to kindly chat with them, but all they would say to me was "it was nice meeting you." Over and Over and Over. So I let them know I appreciated Macy's past support of the LGBT community and then I told them the three demands we had for them. Their response was again, "It was nice meeting you."

Most of the passers-by were very supportive. Some clapped and cheered at our protest. There were a few anti-gay situations. One man went past us yelling things about God and going to hell, while a girl who was also passing by yelled at him. I won't forget her. She realized that she was in a better position to stand up to him and tell him to stop than myself. That's a true ally.

Earlier in the day when we first arrived, a man kept asking me "what is good? What is bad?" I did not know how to answer his strange questioning. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a stone with a cross engraved into it. He proceeded to rub the cross on my arms while saying "God is stepping on you, Jesus is stepping on you. " These are the types of crazy people Macy's pandered too.

At 1pm when the protest ended we decided to hand deliver our used signs to the Executive offices on the Lower Level of Macy's. The office door shut as we were approaching and they would not answer the door so we slid our signs underneath. To leave the store we formed a line and marched to the exit. We chanted "Macys took the anti-gay bait, how do you know your mannequin's straight? " The shoppers were caught by surprise but seemed mostly supportive. Some sales people were shocked and called security. Others, particularly the make-up counter sales people clapped and smiled at us as we left.

QueerToday's Demands for Macy's (still not met)
1. Admit wrongdoing
2. Apologize directly to the LGBT community
3. Return the mannequins
4. Renew your historic support of LGBT Community

View More Photos & Commentary at View From the Bridge Blog

The Sunday Stuart Street block party was a blast. DJ Tracy Young was on deck to spin her own remixes of popular gay anthems from Madonna, Mariah, and the likes. The crowd was predominately gay men, but they busted my internal stereotype. I assumed the crowd woudl be all gym bunnies with their shirts off. Instead it was a nice variety of people who were all very friendly to each other. The party was extended until 9pm. Unfortunately I missed the trans pride event that was to be held from 5-7pm.