Pride Parade Remembered
We were a site, I’m sure—a bunch of gay teenagers decked out in our rainbow finest, singing songs from “Rent” as loudly as we could, riding the Green Line into the city. It was Pride, my first Pride to be exact, and as participants in the OPALGA youth group, Spectrum, we were on our way to the parade, under the watchful eye of Rob Ward. We arrived at our destination, made our way through the crowds of people, and found the Oak Park trolley. My boyfriend at the time, who I had met that summer through Spectrum, was marching behind the trolley with PFLAG…and his mother. This was a day of firsts: my first boyfriend, my first parade, and eventually my first awkward meeting of the parents. I wasn’t sure if I was more nervous to be riding in a trolley throwing beads and condoms to strangers or to be meeting my boyfriend’s very serious-looking mother. To top it all off, it began to rain.
We sheltered ourselves in the trolley and crossed our fingers that the rain would stop. The parade was scheduled to start in minutes, and a heavy downpour just would not do. Much to my amazement, at the moment the parade was scheduled to begin, the rain stopped, and a beautiful rainbow stretched across the sky. I questioned Rob as to whether all Pride parades begin with such dramatic effect and if gay people were indeed so fabulous that they had found a way to control the weather. We embarked on our journey, throwing our treats to the cheering crowd.
I couldn’t process all the feelings I had that day. I had never been near so many other gay and lesbian people. I wanted to scream and shout and do crazy things! But I remembered my mother’s warning—"Don’t end up on the news because I don’t know how we’ll explain that one to your grandmother.” So I kept a little of that excitement to myself, for my grandmother’s sake. We finished the parade and went out for lunch at a local restaurant. Rob told us stories of past parades and his many adventures at Pride. After lunch, several of us made our way to a Pride youth dance to round out the day by dancing until our shoes fell off. At the dance, I experienced my last first of the day, my first kiss. I will share with you that it was the best first of the day, far better than meeting mom.
I couldn’t have asked for a better experience at my first Pride parade. Having come out only months before, it was the warm-hearted welcome to the gay community I was looking for. And it was the motivation I needed to be myself when I left for college only two months later.
What experiences have you had at Pride? Please write to us at and share some of your Pride memories with us. In honor of the occasion, we will share some of these memories in the July issue of Empower. What better way to celebrate our Pride in our community and in each other than by sharing our moments of celebration?
