Photo Friday: First Pride

There is a first time for everyone. Your first Pride. I still remember mine — the first year after I’d moved downtown, I went with a friend and felt completely overwhelmed and overjoyed. It’s a feeling you like to spread around, so last weekend, we took a couple of kids I know to see their first Pride Parade.

It was a rainy weekend, but thankfully it (mostly) cleared up in time for the festivities to start. Although I prefer going to a parade in nice weather, the rain did have the benefit that we got excellent spots right by the end of the route. These days, there are barricades by the sides of the street to keep the crowd from inching ever closer. Good idea, but the sightlines when you use a wheelchair are, quite frankly, crap.

On the other hand, the necessity of zooming my camera lens through a small gap had an unexpected benefit. All my photos became about faces. Some were tired after a long walk, some still high on adrenaline and the cheering of the crowd. But mostly, there were so many smiles.

And that’s the thing about Pride. It’s the biggest party of the year for this city and it is an excellent time. There is so much joy, both in the people marching and the people watching that it spills over into something magical. I am convinced that everyone in all of Toronto are in a better mood that day.

It is also very much still an activist time, something which this particular advocate finds immensely satisfying and inspiring. Going to the parade — the mere fact of its existence — proves that hard work, persistence, and time creates change. Not always fast enough for my liking, but significant change takes time.

The parade itself has changed, as well, including more kids and families than ever before, including more companies that have figured out that just as this country is diverse, so is their customer base. The police is no longer marching in uniform and I have my opinions about that, but at least that conversation has started.

Our two Pride newbies had a blast. And after about an hour and a half, we all hit that point where the music, the floats, the masses of people, the cheering/screaming from the crowds… Okay, we’d had enough. So off we went for ice cream and to head home. Tired, overwhelmed, but most of all, overjoyed.

It was an excellent time.