Vancouver Pride 2012
Another not-so-eventful Pride weekend, it seems Vancouver Pride has been slowly going downhill lately. I noticed this trend around 5 years ago and while the addition of bear dance parties are a positive thing, it just seems that Vancouver doesn't quite have the sense of "community" anymore. The Vancouver Pride Society has once again sold out the community and social groups in favour of big businesses and corporations. They have made it much more expensive for the social groups to have a float in the parade - coming at a time when most are financially struggling in this city. Instead of groups with a gay membership, we have now gone to "special interest groups" with whatever agenda they want to advertise to the crowd. Everything from foreskin activism, the environment, pot legalization... even Occupy Vancouver was wasting parade space! Seems whoever has the money, the VPS wants in the parade. Doesn't help when there are next to no bears and leathermen in the parade either...
Friday afternoon at work I get a message from Michael, a bear in Washington State I've been corresponding on Biggercity for about a year. He says he would be running late and that there was traffic backed-up on the way before the US border. He wasn't the only person coming up that day so I called the number of a downtown timeshare my other friend, Scott was staying at. He had just signed in and I said I could be at his place in about an hour. After work I went to his timeshare suite and we watched the Summer Olympics on CTV and chatted and snuggled on his couch. We started making out and were all over each other that we took it to the bedroom. Two hours later we got dressed and went to the Subway across the street to grab a couple of footlong sandwiches. We took them back and ate them in his suite. We chatted for over an hour more, admiring the view of downtown Vancouver during the sunset. Michael messaged me saying he was downtown but was having supper with a friend so we wouldn't be able to meet that night. I said goodbye to Scott and walked all the way to Hastings and took the 160 all the way back to Port Coquitlam. Was home around 11:30pm.
I went to my folks Saturday afternoon and my mom made me Chicken Fajita Soup to take with me and a pizza before I left. Visited my older sister and brother-in-law to watch the latest Nostalgic Critic episode (reviewing The Wiz) which was pretty funny. Went home that night and was home alone for a little bit. Calvin eventually came home and quickly went up to his room which meant he didn't go to the Metro Vancouver Kink dungeon play party. So David had his visiting-from-Winnipeg-as-a-prospective-son Ryan plus Cluff from Victoria that went with him. All three of them got home around midnight and David had a rented van for the weekend. Cluff would be joining me in the parade with the Knights the following day as he is the new Mr. Stud 2012. I laid out my Knights formals and anything else to save time before bedtime. I went to bed not long after him but after I put my camera battery on the charger.
While David and the rest got up at 7:30am so they could drive just before downtown, park the van at a friend of ours and transit downtown to get a good spot for the parade, I got an extra 45 minutes of sleep. I packed my fully charged camera, Bear Pride flag dogtag, Knights medallion and tie, some photos, and I dressed in my white Knights formal shirt and black denim jeans. I printed out a sheet of the parade entries so I know when to expect the ones I really want to see and also know when to bail after the last one has past. I caught the shuttle at 9:27am, went to the PoCo Station, and took the 160 to Burrard skytrain station which I arrived just before 11am. I put on my vest, tie, medallion, and Bear Pride flag dogtag and exited the bus. I walked to Robson & Bute which was our meeting place. Most Knights volunteering were already there and the flags were already set up thanks to Jim & Paul. Cluff managed to find his way to the meet up point (he's not used to Vancouver). The Knights marching this year were: Jim & Paul, Wayne M., Damian, Wayne T., Synder, and I. Some Knights couldn't attend for health reasons and would barely survive the parade route. For volunteers we had ex-Knight Michael, boy Stewart, Pat, and Robyn among others. One of the Grand Marshalls was Jenna Talackova - the first transgendered Miss Universe beauty queen contestant who made the news earlier this year when she was disqualified from competing. I snapped a picture of her and Jim together. In under 5 minutes before the parade starting, I noticed something amiss: the Canadian gay pride flag that Jim was about to hold up was upside down! Cluff and I tried to help but it turns out whatever was holding the top of the flag was loose. Thankfully, Paul in his quick thinking had masking tape on him and gave it to me. I quickly rolled some tape to secure the top of the flag which worked and I returned the tape to Paul. I quickly got myself into position as I was carrying the US flag. The current executive get priority to carry the main flags while those below us carry the Canadian provinces and territories flags. What was weird was that there was this protester, dressed in black who joined us, carrying the Russian flag and a sign saying "The New World Order Is Coming" though I think he was asked to leave before we were done the route. At 12 noon the Dykes on Bikes went ahead and we were seperated between them by a car which made us feel a lot safer. Jim was given permission to walk up to the car and let them know to move more forward if they felt the driver was slowing things down. On the way I a few bear buddies said "hi" from the crowd and cheered me on. The only people I couldn't find in the crowd was David and Ryan! We all managed to do the entire route in an hour while Damian and Jim were not in the best of health. At the end of the route we disassembled the flags and gave them to Jim & Paul. I changed out of my vest and shirt which were dripping with sweat and put on my old BC Bears "Furrball 7" t-shirt. I then went to try and find a spot to get pictures but even near the end of the route, there were still so many damn people in the way. A really strange thing happened... about over a third into the parade, it seemed like it ended! Seriously, I looked at the entries sheet and noticed the next group in line wasn't marching behind the "last" one that all of a sudden, lots of people started to walk on the road as if the parade was over. Everyone was like, "What the hell? That was short!" Some started to leave and others went to the festival. I hung around the parade route talking to a couple of friends. As I walked away from the route, the next group in the parade came in - 20 minutes later! Holy shit! That's a pathetically big gap for parade organizers to screw up! Some people started to come back but I managed to find a sufficient spot to take pictures. I did just over half the parade and gave up after 2pm (bad move, I missed the only cute leatherbear to take pictures of!). I went to the festival and walked around while running into David and Ryan. I wanted to check around by myself more. I found George Cameron (MasterG) manning the Prime Timers Vancouver booth with a couple of other members as he is the president. We chatted a bit and I noticed that his eye was getting better after over a week from his surgery. I also checked out VML's booth but it didn't have anything new from previous years. The photo book put together by Mitch Kenyon was there. About 35% of the pictures in the book I took, especially in the early days of VML. I then checked out some of the gay-friendly churches who have their yearly booths. Not much has changed but it was nice to see old friends. I ran back into David and Ryan and they were still touring around the festival booths. David wasn't done until 3:45pm and we made the slow walk up the hill on Bute street from the festival area. I was carrying two chairs Ryan originally lugged for him and David to see the parade with. We were on our way to the Canada Line but David and Ryan slowed things down. Ryan went into Little Sisters and Priape for the first time and while waiting for him and even after he was done, David sat outside chatting with people which took even longer. I ran into a cub I haven't seen in over 2 years as we continued down. We then transited to Vancouver City Hall and bused all the way to our friend Tom's on Broadway. Tom is a slave and while David wanted Ryan and I naked in his suite, Tom had his boxers on. He served us some water and we chatted for under an hour until we left with the rented van. David dropped me off around Terminal Ave and Main Street so I could attend the Thickset bear dance party. I got there just as it opened but they were still setting up. I was carded but I didn't have to pay admission! I finally met Michael who was helping a friend of ours, Chris to set up his DJ equipment. Fuck - he was woofy! We didn't get much time to talk and do stuff as he was volunteering for the night. I ran into a bear couple I haven't seen for around a few years and gave them a copy of a picture I took of them around a few years ago. I then sat in a booth and played The Wizard of Oz: Beyond the Yellow Brick Road on my Nintendo DS for over half an hour. My friend Charles happened to attend and we spent over an hour chatting about things. He mentions that he had a hotel room for the weekend and in his typical fashion, tries to talk me into spending the night with him. It was tempting but I just wanted to go home as I haven't eaten anything all day and just wanted to sleep. Wasn't in the mood to play either. Before leaving, I saw Michael selling Thickset t-shirts so we said our goodbyes and he apologized for not spending any time with me for the weekend. We managed to suck some face and I ran my hand into his beautiful beard while his hand rubbed my crotch and then mine proceeded to feel his perky nipples. WOOF! I snapped a pic of us before I headed out. Walked down to Hastings and did the same routine: the 160 to PoCo Station and then the C38 to home just before midnight.
So it seems Pride weekend wasn't that great this year save for meeting friends as usual. It was nice to march with the Knights again this year after a 4-year hiatus. For those of you who were around for the weekend, what were your thoughts? Leave a comment!
To see the CTV BC News segment on the parade go here. When they interview Jenna at the 01:12 - 01:24 mark, you can see me in the background talking to a friend around the middle left side.
To see the Knights marching in the parade (03:00 - 03:48) check this video here or below:
Click to view