NC Pride

The annual North Carolina Pride Parade happened today as it has now for many, many years. In addition to the celebration of the diverse community that Pride always represents, there was also a special urgency created by the recent passage of a bill to put the marriage discrimination amendment on the ballot this coming May. This was a moment to both enjoy how far we've come, and organize for the challenges ahead.

The statewide Pride event is happening all this weekend. There is a full schedule of events from Thursday through Sunday across the state, but of course the big event is the rally and parade in Durham.

11: 55am National Anthem for Opening Ceremony
NOON "Pride Rally with Speakers and Dignitaries, Parade Marshall and special performances"
12:45- 2:15pm PARADE LINE UP TO MARCH with Bagpipes
1pm Parade Begins (Official Reviewing Stand at Madhatter's Cafe at the corner of Main and Broad St.
1pm - 4pm Viewing Party

For me the best part of attending my statewide Pride celebration is capturing the anti-gay fundamentalists along the parade route.

This year, I managed to do that, but I took the pix while riding in one of the cars in the parade this year, as I was asked to deliver the keynote address. Oy. Really, I don't understand why people think blogger=public speaker, but not all of us are extroverts. More on that later.

This year's crop of bible-beating losers was interesting.

Right: Pastor Billy Ball, a "fan" of my blog who has written me damnation Valentines and other deranged emails, made the trip all the way from Primrose, GA.

I rode in the "celebrity" jeep with Stormy Ellis, who is the only out Assistant District Attorney in the entire state of NC -- of course she is in Durham. The Grand Marshall of the parade, Mark Kleinschmidt, is an out gay Chapel Hill town council member who is running for mayor there this year.

Durham Police Chief Jose Lopez Sr., who is one rocking supporter of the LGBT community, spoke; the officers at the parade volunteered to be there and those on the force who are LGBT are not in the closet.

So in this environment, our 2009 fundies found themselves wildly outnumbered; poor Billy Ball didn't even bring a bullhorn. Talk about unprepared. But we had these new ones (one reader called them Agent Smiths with "all their asinine Matrix sunglasses") who really wore the loser label quite well...

And the guy carrying this sign is a three-time attendee; he also shows up at the Gay and Lesbian Film Festival here.

In terms of the keynote, rewritten over and over up until the last moment, I was definitely nervous, since I wasn't delivering a traditional rah-rah keynote. After all, if you give me the podium, knowing my content, you may be asking for trouble -- or at least a generous amount of stepping on some third rails.

My keynote is below the fold (w/video and a slideshow).

www.ncpride.org

NC Pride is this weekend. It marks the 25th anniversary of this celebration. Of course the main event is the Parade at 1pm today. But there are speeches, festival grounds, food, vendors, booths, and lots of fun to be had. I'm about to head over to NC Pride, check out what is going on, and then volunteer at the Equality NC booth for a while.

I would argue that it is important for as many people to turn out to this parade and rally as possible, because it is the first one since prop 8 & the protests, and it is important to see this as not only a good time, but also a large political rally with a positive message. I also want to take a second to share some info on the Parade Marshall Mark Kleinschmidt, a Chapel Hill town councilman who is running for mayor, and for whom I am the campaign's volunteer coordinator:

Campaign Website
www.mark4mayor.com