the awesome/terrifying freedom

i've never been in the parade before - holy crap what a difference! if you haven't done it, i highly recommend it. it's likely i will march again next year with the same contingent: campaigning for sean patrick maloney for attorney general in 2006.

there's something amazing about walking down the middle of 5th avenue, with this impossibly tall canyon of buildings stretched out in front of you, receeding all the way to the vanishing point.



in the purple shirt is my friend gennaro, who got me involved, and who is also involved with stonewall democrats. wow politics is cool. it's an art form, really, and it's amazing to watch the pros at work. gennaro saved the day when he had to get a back-up generator for the dj booth on the back of the truck for our section of the parade.







what's also really cool about being in the parade is that you get to see just how big it really is, and how many people come out to watch, and how many different kinds of people come to watch - crowds stretched out on either side of the street from 57th down to the village. it's amazing. and the crowds change as you move downtown. in the 50's you get old people sitting on chairs they brought from home, then the 40's is all tourists, then the 30's into chelsea is scary shirtless guys, then once you hit the village it's lovely shirtless guys. the only drawback is that you don't get to see any of the other floats.





sean and his partner randy are really quite amazing. in addition to both being highly accomplished, they've been together forever, and have adopted three kids. they're total role models and such perfect, media-friendly faces for the struggle to legalize marriage.



there were exactly 4 protesters along the parade route. a couple people carrying signs that said 'repent,' and 'you're going to hell' and such. there was one guy with a sign saying the koran condemnded us, another person saying jesus hates us, and another person saying we're going against judiasm. so everyone was pretty well represented.



i hope sean wins in 2006. it would be a huge stride.