Rainy, colourful, campy pride

The rainy weather and various "alternate plans/commitment" could not deter our enjoyment of this spectacular time of year.  

More aware this year than any previous year of the systemic oppression imposed on those who do not conform to the norm, and having experienced first hand that "equality in law is not equality in practice", I was especially looking forward to leaving behind a rather disappointing school year and embracing this weekend, when it is not only "okay to be gay", but when in fact one's gender creativity and sexual identity is celebrated and encouraged.

So, I joined my aviation colleagues on Friday evening at the post-booth-set-up party.  My partner had been helping to set up the Aviation Pride booth, and I met her downtown afterwards to have a few drinks and staff the booth for the Friday evening crowd which was large and celebratory... and lucky, since that was the only part of the weekend when it wasn't pouring rain!!!  

We laughed and joked with flight attendants, crew schedulers and other pilots in the group, as well as reaching out to and making connections with those who passed by the booth.  It was a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed the evening.  (Tats did, too, as evidenced by this photo snapped mid-street-dance on our way back to the subway!)

The next morning, Alex joined us, and we headed back downtown.  Bedecked in a colourful shirt and his rainbow airplane necklace, he was joining Tats for a soggy two-hour shift in the rain at the Aviation booth while I headed over to put in a few hours at the equally dripping ETFO booth, where I reconnected with a musician whom I had not seen or spoken with in nearly 20 years!!!  (Turns out he is a teacher now, too (Kindergarten), and a darned good one, based on my observations during our time together on Saturday.)

After our shifts, we forwent the Dyke march and picked up a rainbow cake at the Village Loblaws before heading back to the west end to bring Alex to an end-of-year party hosted by one of his friends from school.  But not before pausing in our rain jackets and soaked shoes to snap a photo at the Lucky Charms picture booth!

Sunday's parade was also missed, unfortunately, as we had to take Simon up to camp -- his first year of overnight camp!  He and Alex bid a silly, huggy good-bye to one another in the lobby of our building before Simon, Tats, Vinx and I piled into Vinx' vehicle for the 2 hour ride up north. (Alex hung out with his dad for the day; he's decided on an alternative, self-directed camp week with a  family friend while his brother is away dancing with the mosquitoes and canoeing in the Kawarthas.)

Simon having passed the camp's mandatory head lice check, I hugged my baby good-bye and walked back to the parking lot with Vinx and Tats.  I shed a few tears, and then hopped back into the Van where I promptly pulled up the latest on the missed Parade on my iPhone, and eagerly read about Pussy Riot, Cindi Lauper and others who were headlining this year's event.

Pride weekend is the time of year when I am perhaps one of the more conservative people in the crowd, and it is a weekend I have grown to relish not just for social and entertainment reasons, but for the equity it promotes and the social justice it insists on.  The celebration of Toronto's LGBTQ community for me symbolizes the rainbow of people with whom I share this planet.  I love being amidst the great diversity of young and old, male, female and everything in between and outside of that binary, and the cultural milieu that descends upon Church/Wellesley and the surrounding area to experience first hand what inclusion can really feel like!