Washington DC Pride 2019
(While I realise that Pride isn't for all of my readers (and some of you probably struggle with the concept), I ask that you read with an open mind and be nice about it. Thanks x.)
Sooo I was in the USA visiting the ever-lovely Liz @ Out of Coffee, Out of Mind (and her sister Abby @ Somewhere in Between (Pages or Extremes)) last week-ish and we visited DC the weekend of Pride (we weren't there for Pride, and in fact missed the main event on purpose because crowds suck) BUT we did get to see the aftermath and the more minor event on the Sunday.
This was my first Pride so I wasn't sure what to expect, and to be honest I didn't get much of a Pride experience because we were too busy at museums and doing touristy things (FYI I am much better at being nerdy and geeking out over the Museum of Natural History rather than partying... Parties suck, dudes).
Despite, or perhaps because of, my impressive lack of involvement, I think my favourite part was standing on the outside looking in. I loved seeing the kids on the bus with trans flags painted on their cheeks and dark lipstick and knee-high rainbow socks. On our way back out of DC a few teenagers started an impromptu sing-along of Same Love, all huddled together on the metro as if the world was theirs for the day. When Liz, Abby and I stopped for lunch we grabbed a table near the window and I spent nearly an hour watching people returning from Pride; two ladies in their 60s with rainbows shirts holding hands, seemingly straight couples pushing strollers with flags, kids my age and younger with hair of every colour imaginable, bi and gay and ace and pan and lipstick lesbian flags worn as capes as if these people were becoming their own Superheroes.
And when we left the restaurant and headed off to the next museum, and when it started raining, and when the facepaint melted off and the flags in the store windows became blurry with the wet, the watercolours mixed and merged and melted together, and the city became a liquid rainbow, awash with the faces of those who wore their colours.
Pride isn't for everyone. I know that. However, I also know that we all have those stories of when others don't accept us as a whole, but as partials, fragments. Whether your parents don't agree with your choice of career or you have a mental illness no one understands or you have/don't have a significant other or people don't like your weight or whatever, we all know what it's like to feel on the outside sometimes. Maybe Pride isn't for you, but it's a time when we can sit back and ignore the things that tear us apart, and instead celebrate the things that bring us together.
Sooo I was in the USA visiting the ever-lovely Liz @ Out of Coffee, Out of Mind (and her sister Abby @ Somewhere in Between (Pages or Extremes)) last week-ish and we visited DC the weekend of Pride (we weren't there for Pride, and in fact missed the main event on purpose because crowds suck) BUT we did get to see the aftermath and the more minor event on the Sunday.
This was my first Pride so I wasn't sure what to expect, and to be honest I didn't get much of a Pride experience because we were too busy at museums and doing touristy things (FYI I am much better at being nerdy and geeking out over the Museum of Natural History rather than partying... Parties suck, dudes).
Despite, or perhaps because of, my impressive lack of involvement, I think my favourite part was standing on the outside looking in. I loved seeing the kids on the bus with trans flags painted on their cheeks and dark lipstick and knee-high rainbow socks. On our way back out of DC a few teenagers started an impromptu sing-along of Same Love, all huddled together on the metro as if the world was theirs for the day. When Liz, Abby and I stopped for lunch we grabbed a table near the window and I spent nearly an hour watching people returning from Pride; two ladies in their 60s with rainbows shirts holding hands, seemingly straight couples pushing strollers with flags, kids my age and younger with hair of every colour imaginable, bi and gay and ace and pan and lipstick lesbian flags worn as capes as if these people were becoming their own Superheroes.
And when we left the restaurant and headed off to the next museum, and when it started raining, and when the facepaint melted off and the flags in the store windows became blurry with the wet, the watercolours mixed and merged and melted together, and the city became a liquid rainbow, awash with the faces of those who wore their colours.
I'm completely pro-pride! But this year, in my country, it's almost turned into a joke. Companies are using it as a form of marketing and I'm sad to see that it's losing its true aim - to celebrate and unite us all as individuals with quirks and differences and to be accepted for who we are. I've never attended a pride parade but my sister is off to the one in Dublin tomorrow! Washington DC parade must have been out of this world! Or even the aftermath would still have been impressive.
ReplyDeleteThank you for finding my little blog and for leaving such a lovely comment <3 can't wait to read more content from you.
Yay! *waves rainbow flag* Aw that sucks! I'm always wary of big companies using a movement like Pride for marketing. I hope your sister enjoyed herself! I would love to see what different parades are like around the world, especially in my home countries of Canada and Australia. DC was really interesting because a lot of laws for/against LGBTQ+ people had been made in that city but people were there celebrating regardless. Thanks so much for stopping by!
Delete