NYC Pride Parade 2009

Yesterday was a loooooonnnnngggg day!

I had succumbed to the heat on Saturday while wandering around SOHO. The humidity didn't help; I felt faint despite drinking a bottle of orange juice and eating a couple of donuts. I hopped on the subway and headed back to my room hoping I wouldn't pass out. I made it back, turned on the AC full blast and slept for 2 hours. I was definitely dehydrated so I started drinking lots of water.

When Sunday came around, I wasn't sure I'd last. The temp and humidity was lower so I figured I'd give it a shot. I'm glad I did since I didn't feel sick at all. I started the day with a bagel, OJ, and water. Got another bottle of water and a bottle of Gatorade to make sure I was hydrated.

Due to the great work of Father Tony (see his slideshow) and his husband C, they organized a group of Gay Bloggers and Digital Activists and included me. We assembled on W 54th Street at 11:30, waiting for our turn to proceed onto Fifth Avenue for the journey down to the West Village.

The group ahead of us was a "dance float" with loud music and dancers showing lots of skin along the way. As we made the turn onto 5th, they started us off with Billie Jean and the crowd erupted. It put me in a great mood for the rest of the way. Here's a video of the final part. That's St. Patrick's Cathedral in the background and Father Tony in the left foreground and Eric Leven in the right foreground. There was a dude dressed like Batman that was dancing along like he didn't have a care in the world. I understand he's a regular in Central Park on the weekends.



The parade is MASSIVE — we didn't move from our collecting point until around 3. At 5:30, we'd covered quite a bit of ground but were still on 5th Ave so I had to say good-bye to catch my bus at 6:20. I JUST made it by the skin of my teeth!

Imagine that we were group 10 of 16 and I understand our group didn't hit the finish line until 6:30. The parade must have gone on until 9. Yep, New York's Fifth Avenue closed down for 9 hours for pride!

It's an odd and special feeling to walk down Fifth Ave, passing landmarks like St. Patrick's, Rockefeller Center, Saks Fifth Avenue, Empire State Building, Flat Iron Building, etc. An excellent experience indeed!

Looking down Fifth Ave.

Looking up Fifth Ave.

A Peruvian group was behind us with men in hot pants and lots of red feathers.

Here's the dance float that ended up ahead of us the whole way and you can see Batman dancing.