A SHOUT OUT to Pride Weekend!

While digging through the "tea chest" I covered in futon fabric while living in Japan (the design of the fabric is shown in the picture below), I found ALL SORTS of fun things that I'd tucked away. TWO of them are shown in the picture below...a Ken doll that I bought because he FINALLY had "real" hair, and the prince from the movie "Anastasia" that LaDawn got for me because I thought he was HOT. OBVIOUSLY their time together in the dark brought them closer together!!

I used to come up from Iowa on Pride weekend to check things out (I'm a librarian...how ELSE would I put it??!!). I'd drive downtown, by myself, find a good spot from which to view the parade (usually several hours before it started, since I HATE being late, and parking is a NIGHTMARE on Pride weekend), and enjoy all of the CRAZINESS that IS the Ashley Rukes GLBT Pride Parade...then I'd get SO DEPRESSED that I lived in "small town Iowa", with no gay life at all, that I'd leave PRACTICALLY in tears. I WISHED that I could be part of all of the excitement that I saw around me before, during, and after the parade.

FINALLY, I made the decision to "chuck" small town life, and move to the big city. I did some online "dating" (go Yahoo! personals!), and, on one of my "escape" trips up here, a year before moving to St. Paul, met Duane. We did the long distance dating thing for nine AWFUL months, and then...I was here!

Strange...but after moving to the cities, I don't think I've been to any of the Pride festivities since...what's UP with that??!!!

In thinking about it, there are SEVERAL reasons that I think this happened:

1. I'm not really "plugged in" to the gay community here in the cities. We have SOME gay friends that we see occasionally, but most of our friends are "hetero" (it's not their fault...they were BORN that way!). I thought about joining the Twin Cities Gay Men's Chorus to get to know people in the gay community here, but, the drive to rehearsals was practically in downtown Minneapolis, and I'm SO not comfortable driving in the actual city, so chucked that idea...also the chorus does concerts and outreach on weekdays, and I work...and finally, I was a little afraid that my former boyfriend would join the chorus when he moved up here, and I SO was not up to dealing with him.

2. Duane and I have been happily together for NINE YEARS (on August 3rd), and I don't really NEED the excitement and adventure of the Pride parade, and related activities, to be who I am...I'm ME with him every day! That was a HUGE revelation...how "settling" and "comfortable" a relationship can be. Before, I LOVED the excitement and close proximity to SO MANY PEOPLE LIKE ME...now it's just....crowded. It can probably ALSO be contributed to the fact that Duane HATES Pride weekend, and if I went, I'd be back to going ALONE again!

3. Even after being "broken up" for almost 11 years, I still have a vague "discomfort" with the possibility of running into previously mentioned "former boyfriend". It's LONG over, and ALL water under the bridge, but he STILL calls a couple of times a year, asking if we can get together, or talk on the phone, and after those first four or five PSYCHO years of being broken up (he called an average of 90 times a week the first four or five months), I'm just NOT up to reestablishing any kind of communication. He's a little obsessive, and the type that would get carried away with any "olive branch" I might offer. My fear is that he'd take it as a sign that things are "okay" now, and I'm just NOT up to dealing with any of that crap again...I have enough drama in my life as it is!

All that said, the weekend up here looks to be a HOOT. The Village People are performing (I'm assuming in wheel chairs). RuPaul will be here. Taylor Dayne is playing at the Saloon, there'll be GAY BOWLING (the Fruit Bowl) at Elsie's. Chi Chi LaRue will be at the Underground. En Vogue will be performing in Loring Park ("ground zero" of Pride), and the "Miss City of the Lakes" drag pageant will be held TONIGHT in the La Femme room at the Gay 90's.

Looking at the lineup...I may just have to get back into the "swing of things" and check it out, although 35W into downtown is closed all weekend for construction, and the bridge is still not finished, so GETTING downtown is going to be a bit of a NIGHTMARE!

Here's to all of the leather daddies, and drag queens, and drama queens, and "dykes on bikes" who make Pride such a HOOT of an event, and who make being part of the "gay community" such an adventure every other day of the year as well!