Another Parade

So, D and I went to the LA Pride parade and festival this past weekend. In fact, the company I work for is a big supporter of GLBT rights, and we marched in the parade. Our presentation wasn't a fancy float or anything, it was just a bunch of my coworkers holding our company banner, handing out beads to the crowd, and being followed by a hot red convertible 2009 Mustang with company posters (stating that we offer full partner and gay marriage benefits) on the sides and D and I riding in the back, waving.

And yes, I have to admit that the two of us riding in there, side by side and holding a flag was hot. Super hot. So hot, in fact, that people were taking pictures of us non-stop on the parade route. Had we not been in the car, there probably would have been a grand total of about 3 pictures taken of my companies conservative presentation. D even had a few people run up out of the crowd to smack him on the butt. It was tons o' fun. Oh yeah, and there were so many hotties out and about. My favorite was the pirate ship with all the pirates in speedos. :D

There is also a huge local Latino GLBT support group called Bienestar. They had two huge floats and probably 150 people marching. The first float was called "Amazonas", and it seemed to mostly consist of drag queens and transgendered individuals dressed as Amazon warriors. They were in the parade staging area next to us, so we got to enjoy them for a couple of hours. Two of the drag queens really took a liking to D and myself, and insisted on taking pictures "con las papis." It was a hoot! :D

After the parade we went to the festival grounds to check it out. It was pretty fun. We saw a lot of strange people. A LOT of strange people. And I came to understand why most of the "normal" gays that I know around here say they don't like going to the pride festival. It's a little out there. Haha!

Anyway, the guy that makes the shirtless Mormon missionary calendars was there, and we visited with him for a little while. I can't wait for the new one to come out! :D

We also manned the recruiting booth for my company (job recruiting, not gay recruiting) and met lots of interesting people. One of the guys we met is the guy who founded californiansagainsthate.com. He was very interesting to talk to. He was very interested to talk to us as well, since we were raised LDS and have since chosen an alternate path. In fact, we're going to have dinner with him sometime next month to talk about things. I'll let you know how that goes.

We also met a guy and his husband who had a really sad story. I'll refer to them as the tall one and the short one. The tall one grew up LDS, got married, had a couple kids, and couldn't hack it being in a mixed-orientation marriage. So, he got divorced and had been partnered/married for 17 years now with the short one. The tall one's kids had been really close with him and the short one, so much so that the short one referred to the kids as "our kids". The oldest daughter had even come to live with them for a couple years when she was 18. Well, the fiasco that was Prop 8, destroyed their family ties. That same daughter who had grown up knowing them, and living with them for a time sent them a letter during the Prop 8 ordeal last fall denouncing their relationship as satanic and severing all ties with them. They used to be very involved in the lives of their grandchildren, and now they have a new baby granddaughter that they have never met and have been told they never will. How horrible is that? And here they are just devastated over the fact that the LDS church preaches the importance of families, and then through their political actions are tearing non-standard ones apart. I felt so sorry for them. It just makes me so mad to think of the things that get done in the name of "righteousness" in the Mormon community.

All in all it was a really fun time. If I remember to, I'll get the picture of the hot speedo pirates that I took with D's camera and update this post with it (just for you O-Mo). ;)


The only VW I have ever liked:



Balloons (Great angle on that shot, D!):



D and myself:



And who doesn't love a Disco Ball Pinto!?!?



Las Amazonas:



The only Amazona worth looking at:



Don't forget gay masked wrestling:



Pirates!!



Pirates afoot!!



I'm not sure what was going on here, but it was so disturbing I had to post it: