A Very Gay Weekend

Pride rolls around early here in Phoenix. Most other places celebrate Pride in June but since Phoenix in June makes Hell look like a pleasant spring day, they moved things back. I remember going to my first Pride back when I was in college, back in the early 90s -- I had come home college for the summer; was still deeply in the closet. At that point I didn't talk to anyone there and I was worried that someone might recognize me.

Flash forward a good 12 years or so -- its fashionable in Phoenix to compare events in Phoenix to those in other cities and complain that we're not up to par. I don't think its exclusively a gay thing, but it happens a decent bit. That said, Pride in Phoenix has come a long way over that time and I've grown right along with it.

I didn't make it to the Parade this year, which apparently was the largest to date. I spent most of my time at the Festival with Tom and his friends. Generally I'm not big on hanging out with groups of people and while I didn't really know Tom's friends, it wound up being a pretty good mix.

We were playing a game to see who could find the scariest characters as well as the most manly looking lesbians. We managed to capture Tom's friend Stu with Mr. Red Jockstrap. That raises an important question -- what would my blood alcohol level have to be to get me to go out in a leather vest and jockstrap?

After the festival I headed over to Amsterdam, where Chi Chi LaRue took a break from directing porn to spin some party music out on the Patio. Everyone, these days, wants to be a DJ - its right up there with "Born Again" Evangelical Preacher as the trendy career moves. In fact, I'm expecting to hear that Kirk Cameron is ditching his Televangelism gig in favor of DJing. Better yet, look out for Kirk's new "Raves for Jesus" tour.