Rainbows abound

Twas the gay time of the year, and all of the big hairy guys were dressed in their finest emperor's magic robe.

Yup, it was Pride 2008 in San Francisco.

As usual, it started off with the Trans March Friday night. (Actually, I guess it kinda kicks off with the Frameline films that start prior to Pride Weekend.) I saw that Donna Rose was flying in to address the marchers (as well as talk at a number of other places on Friday). I sent her an email to give her a heads up on what she might expect in San Francisco as opposed to other areas of the US. From what I have seen, San Francisco has a very large genderqueer population, that is especially present at the Trans March. I told her it was kinda “gritty-hip”...in such a way that some of it can be in your face. She called me Thursday night and we chatted a bit, and walked along a little during the march. She was an extremely busy woman out here, though, so we only spoke briefly. She’s very good at taking in the grander picture, though, as you can see in her blog entry and amount of pictures. Perhaps it’s harder to appreciate what San Francisco has with Pride when you actually live here and see it all of the time.

The Dyke March was Saturday afternoon. While two of my good friends were discussing the future of their relationship, I hung out with the girl I went out with a few times late last year. I recognized one girl in the march, but couldn't quite place her. She saw me, as well, and started walking over. She was in the La Cage play that we did 5 years ago...AND she recognized me.

She said I didn’t look that different, and I guess she did see me in a few girl modes about 6 months before I went full time. I have to admit, though, I was very surprised that she recognized me. When you pay a guy $40,000 to look different, dammit, people shouldn’t recognize you. (Picture from pre-transition)

Sunday was the parade, and I have to say that I am kinda burned out on the parade, so I just chill in the booth crowds. A number of my lesbian friends rode their bikes with the Dykes on Bikes portion of the parade, so I caught up with them once they were finished riding. What do you think...could I be a dyke on a bike? I teased my friends and asked if people volunteered to ride “bitch” during the parade. I said I might try it next year.

I ended up working the TGSF margarita booth for a portion of the busy time of the day. My knee and feet were toast by the end of the weekend, though, so I headed home around 4pm. Overall, it was a nice, but busy, weekend.

Another good thing about the weekend was the trans-presence. The Trans March continues to be well attended. Mikayla Connell and Cecilia Chung have been very instrumental in current and previous SF Pride planning. TGSF and the Lou Sullivan Society (formerly FTMI) have had a margarita booth together for the past 2 years. And, of course, Donna Rose attended.

To have Donna Rose out here was awesome. To me, she has become the face of a united ENDA. When HRC went back on their word to make ENDA all inclusive, she quit the HRC board. There has been a lot of pressure put on HRC to get back on track, especially since they knew that the bill wouldn’t be signed by George Bush. It was the act of staying together...being united...that would have shown the validity of keeping the gender identity part in ENDA. I still have to admit I’m surprised at how many organizations didn’t fold like HRC, and even more surprised at the continual support for keeping it an inclusive ENDA.