Philadelphia Gay Pride 2009

Not the best pic but I'm expecting a lot more

Once you've been to Pride once, it's the same every year. Though gay pride in different cities have different vibes. This year, it happens that the local gay organization needed people to march with them, so I volunteered. This is my second time marching for Philly pride. It's kinda nice to have people applauding for you, just because you're walking down the street. I also liked the feeling of walking in the middle of the street, it's one of my favorite thing. Even though I can't be an observing bystander, I'm surprised on how unsexy the local gay scene is. Other than the local swimming team wearing their speedos and swim trunks, there are no go-go boys or gyrating of any kind in the parade. It's all about the self-empowerment and nothing to do with sex. It's infinitely boring.

There was a decent crowd in the gayborhood but along the way it has somewhat thinned out. We were carrying some rainbow-colored fish-shaped windsocks attached to a pole which were quite amusing. I didn't really get the concept, but it was fun nonetheless. The sun was bright and with the breeze, the fishes were flying high. Within an hour and a half, we've reached the destination where the festival was held so it was a rather easy walk. The boyfriend came to join me for a little bit and since we marched, we got in the fair for free.

For the past 3 years, the fair is being held at Penn's Landing and they had commercialized the whole thing by charging people $10 to get in. I absolutely arbor that. There are nothing but vendors and companies advertising their services inside the fair, so it seems very silly to charge people $10 to suffer through it. Either you can afford $10 or not, you are who you are. It makes no sense that you have to pay $10 so you can feel like you have a community to belong to. One saving grace though is Ben & Jerry's who are handing out free samples of their new product called Flipped Out, a small fudge ice cream sundae that you can flip onto a plate so you can see the chocolate syrup running down the sides. I would have paid for it but free food tastes better. It's great to see big company like Ben & Jerry's would prepare a truckload of sure-sell ice cream just to give them away to our community. Kudos. It's also great to see some friends that I haven't seen for a while cheering me on down the street. Although next year, I'll remember to wear sunscreen.