My daughter is my pride
Today I took Dutch to the Pride parade downtown. My theory was that there are few events in the world more suited to the tastes of a three-year-old girl than a parade of people in fancy dresses. I was right, as it turned out, and she loved every single second of it except the Dykes on Bikes, who revved their engines and honked really loudly. The parade was verrrrrrrrrrrrrrry long. Dutch scored lots of candy thrown from the floats. Also a fake tattoo and several stickers. I got teary-eyed a few times - gay military veterans! Older people carrying signs that said "I love my gay son" and so on. The one that really got me was the woman with the sign that said on one side "I love my trans daughter" and on the other side "My daughter is my pride." The biggest cheers were for the gay mayor-to-be (who was also riding a horse-drawn stagecoach, which may have inflated his cheers) and for the gay law enforcement officers. Especially the tall blond All-American woman in some sort of law-enforcement-y outfit (maybe a park ranger or something?) walking with her blond All-American partner and their blond little All-American daughter.
I tried to explain a little bit to Dutch what the parade was all about, and ended up with a lame explanation that sometimes kids have two daddies or two mommies (this seemed like the most relevant line of explanation, but it was very lame). She dismissed this explanation as being Totally Old News, since she read a book at daycare about a kid who has two mommies (and two of her classmates have two mommies, anyway), and of course some people have two mommies or two daddies and really what is the big deal about this? And then she said "Mama, look, more fairies!" which totally cracked me up. They really were dressed like fairies, though.*
It was nice that the parade was so long, because it means that everybody wanted to be included. Every church in town was in the parade, and lots of corporations were represented - gay Nike and PGE employees. I have gathered from my skimming of local alternative weeklies that there is some discontent with the co-option of Pride by corporations and whatnot. Pride is mainstream.
Also, we ran into FOUR people we know. Portland often seems like a very small town where even hermits like us start running into acquaintances the moment we leave the house.
*I'm serious about this being the perfect event for three-year-old girls. There were pirates, fairies, queens, and princesses, plus dogs, children, and some marching bands. The only way it could have been better is if it were all contained in a giant pink cupcake with glitter on top.
I tried to explain a little bit to Dutch what the parade was all about, and ended up with a lame explanation that sometimes kids have two daddies or two mommies (this seemed like the most relevant line of explanation, but it was very lame). She dismissed this explanation as being Totally Old News, since she read a book at daycare about a kid who has two mommies (and two of her classmates have two mommies, anyway), and of course some people have two mommies or two daddies and really what is the big deal about this? And then she said "Mama, look, more fairies!" which totally cracked me up. They really were dressed like fairies, though.*
It was nice that the parade was so long, because it means that everybody wanted to be included. Every church in town was in the parade, and lots of corporations were represented - gay Nike and PGE employees. I have gathered from my skimming of local alternative weeklies that there is some discontent with the co-option of Pride by corporations and whatnot. Pride is mainstream.
Also, we ran into FOUR people we know. Portland often seems like a very small town where even hermits like us start running into acquaintances the moment we leave the house.
*I'm serious about this being the perfect event for three-year-old girls. There were pirates, fairies, queens, and princesses, plus dogs, children, and some marching bands. The only way it could have been better is if it were all contained in a giant pink cupcake with glitter on top.
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