On Pride: A Speech (from a Cis Straight Guy) to its Religious Despisers
1. A couple of weekends ago, I went to the Columbus Gay Pride Parade. The main parade route goes up High Street, and I live a couple blocks from High, so I gathered the folding chairs and walked to the parade route to reserve a spot for myself, my fiancé, and some friends. You will likely be surprised to learn that Columbus, Ohio has one of the largest gay pride parades in the country. Stonewall Columbus announced a total attendance (participants and spectators) of 700,000 people. I am not sure how they calculate that beyond a basic estimate, but the actual parade portion took close to three hours to fully pass by our location toward the end of the route, so I have no reason to doubt the big picture number. To be fully transparent, I don't have three hours of parade in me, no matter the content or circumstances, so we abandoned ship around the 2:45 mark. Plus, I had ribs to cook for dinner, and anyone who has done that knows it is a lengthy process. I saw about 50 drag perform