Pride

San Francisco hosts the largest LGBT Pride event in the world. In fact we call it Pride Week because of the parties and events that go on all week reaching a climax on Sunday with the parade. Tens of thousands of tourists pump $100 million into the the City’s economy. I had never before marched in the parade so I decided this was the year to go for it. After all, walking down the middle of Market Street en femme in front of 100,000 people, you can’t get much more out than that!

There are lots of transgender people in the parade but most are of the drag queen variety. I don’t do drag so I had to finagle an invitation out of a more transsexual oriented group, which I did. Thank you, Dawn from TGSF! This was a special year for trans folk as a week prior was the 40th anniversary of the riots at Compton’s Cafeteria, the beginning of the LGBT rights movement in San Francisco. PBS airs an excellent documentary on the event called Screaming Queens!

I arrived shortly after 10:00 at the gathering point near the Embarcadero. It started late as usual and began with the traditional firing up of engines by the beloved Dykes on Bikes. We entered the flow about 11:15. In my rush to get out the door, I left with a Luna bar for breakfast and half a bottle of water. I thought I’d be able to buy food and water there, which I could have had I not forgotten my wallet. ‘No problem’, says I ‘The buildings will block the sun.’ So on with the parade I went. I wasn’t all that happy to be marching along the side of a float with a Beautiful blond, Queen of something or another, 5 feet above me. Not that moi is ever jealous or vain. On I marched down Market, Smiling and waving to the crowd!

I soon discovered that the pavement on Market is hardly pavement at all. It’s ventilation grates for the subway below. Quite a challenge in heels! The shade held out for a few blocks but I soon found myself in direct sunlight on one of the warmer days we get in the City. I started to overheat right away. I was a good girl and took my diuretics that morning and was soon dehydrated and hypoglycaemia followed quickly after.  I came to the end and made a b-line for the subway only to find the parade crowd between me and the staircase. Did I mention that I’m mildly agoraphobic ? I was in a complete panic. Everything went wrong at once. I was ready to punch anyone that got in my way (I didn’t)! I made it out of the parade zone and called a friend who met me at the next train station with food and water in hand.

Sometime later sitting in Burgermeister with a glass of iced tea and French fries in hand I thought to myself; What an adventure!

Originally published 07/07/2006