S/O - do you attend Pride events?

[Mikeyj]

I am involved with organising a group of students and teachers who will be marching in the London event next week. I can honestly say that doing this last year was one of the best experiences I have ever had - seeing these young people react to the acceptance, love, support and cheers from the crowd was amazing, and reinforced the importance of why Pride remains such an important event in the calendar.

 

[dadtoagirl03]

Nope no interest in attending.

 

[Imzadi]

The news just showed George Takei, (Sulu on Star Trek,) a very loud & proud gay rights activist, is down at the Stonewall Inn celebration.

 

[Imzadi]

More pics of celebrations here in NYC. At the park at 23rd St & 6th Ave, Tinder created a 30 ft high, rainbow Pride Slide to go down.

 

[L&Lfan]

The news just showed George Takei, (Sulu on Star Trek,) a very loud & proud gay rights activist, is down at the Stonewall Inn celebration.

Imzadi, is the Stonewall still a functioning bar? Always been curious.

 

[Imzadi]

Imzadi, is the Stonewall still a functioning bar? Always been curious.

Yes, it is. It is now co-owned. One person, I *think* is still the original owner.

The local news, all week, has been interviewing people who were around, 50 yrs ago, back when the riots & uprising happened. One guy said he had heard that the drag queens were rioting in the street against the police. So he and a friend just went to watch on the sidewalk. But, he did say, he understood, that after countless times of oppression from the police against them, they had just had ENOUGH!

 

[disykat]

It never even occurred to me to go. I might go if they needed numbers for support, but the events in my area are jam packed. Like many others here, adding another big event to my calendar is not high on my list of priorities.

I actually looked on the calendar before going to the city earlier in the month and was very relieved that no big events were happening that day. Crowd avoidance - especially crowds with a party atmosphere.

 

[skyblue17]

I have to say, it's funny how many people on a WDW board are talking about avoiding crowds! (I totally get it... it just made me chuckle!)

Either way, the events in NYC are pretty concentrated generally. You can still have a visit to the city and not even know they were going on unless you happened to be along the Parade route or in a neighborhood participating.

 

[L&Lfan]

Today and tonight on TCM two anniversaries are being marked - the 50th Anniversary of Judy Garland’s funeral with a Garland film festival from 6 am to 8 pm and the 50th Anniversary of the Stonewall Riots with a series of gay themed films from 8 pm to 6 am.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Nothing in my town that I know of.

I’m close enough to get to Boston (which I assume would have one?) but it hadn’t really occurred to me to look up when it might be and go.

While I’m comfortable with all kinds of people, I’m actually a bit afraid to attend large gatherings on any “charged” topic. - In this day and age, I just worry in the back of my mind about events turning violent. (All over our news today is the conviction of a man who drove his car into protesters and killed someone.)

I hope that doesn’t make me me a coward or something. I do support equality and rights, I just show my support at the ballot box and by being kind to individuals, rather than by marching.

 

[Imzadi]

It never even occurred to me to go. I might go if they needed numbers for support, but the events in my area are jam packed.

The local news here in NYC said that they estimate that 153,000 people will be marching in the Pride parade.

Imzadi, is the Stonewall still a functioning bar? Always been curious.

Yes, it is. It is now co-owned. One person, I *think* is still the original owner.

The co-owner just said: What's wonderfully ironic is that the NYPD had originally showed up to persecute & arrest them 50 years ago. And NOW, the NYPD is going out of their way to keep them and all participants safe. The news has been showing that the police have been out in full force, like they are on New Year's Eve when the ball drops, to make sure no hateful, bigoted actions occur to mar what's been pretty peaceful celebrations so far.

 

[Imzadi]

Either way, the events in NYC are pretty concentrated generally. You can still have a visit to the city and not even know they were going on unless you happened to be along the Parade route or in a neighborhood participating.

Yeah, they are in pockets around the city.

This happened in Brooklyn at the Barclay (Concert) Center: Whoopi Goldberg kicked off the World Pride celebration the other night as MC. Cyndi Lauper sang this during the opening ceremony

Not sure if this was from a couple weeks ago. But, it was published today. The Broadway threatres organization, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, did this event celebrating Stonewall:

Lady Gaga was at Stonewall this afternoon for the Stonewall Day Concert. No singing. But a long, impassioned speech as an ally:

Alicia Keys was also there today. No YouTube clip yet.

 

[Imzadi]

While I’m comfortable with all kinds of people, I’m actually a bit afraid to attend large gatherings on any “charged” topic. - In this day and age, I just worry in the back of my mind about events turning violent. (All over our news today is the conviction of a man who drove his car into protesters and killed someone.)

I can understand the fear. I think part of why the police have been shown on the news so much here, that they are out in full force, is not only to ally people's fears. But, to say to anyone thinking of trying something, "Don't even THINK of trying something. We will be swarming all over you like bees going after someone."

But, not every city has the luxury, budget and police manpower to be in a lot of places and at big events.

 

[kiddo76]

I have to say, it's funny how many people on a WDW board are talking about avoiding crowds! (I totally get it... it just made me chuckle!)

Very true. For me Disney is "controlled chaos". They have crowd control down to a science. That being said, this past Decemeber, I was at MK when the monorail was down after the fireworks. That was just total chaos and if that were my first experience with WDW, I would definitely rethink going again.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I don't seek them out but don't have any issues with them at all. I'm not really big on that parades,festivals, etc. I mean I've attended over the years, especially as a kid, festivals and whatnot that have had parades and large gatherings but I don't tend to rush to them. There's a Fall Festival that I enjoy here and sometimes an Irish Festival or a Ren Festival but not too too often.

We have however gone to P-Town (Provincetown, MA) during Bear Week twice IIRC. We didn't interact with the events and whatnot, just were tourists but that's one of the most in-your-face celebrations that I've personally seen and none of us to my knowledge had any issues with that though I know it caught my husband off guard when he got hit on lol.

It's actually a bit interesting thinking about this thread. We just got back from Vegas and saw Zumanity (a very adult themed Cirque show). I was reading one of the reviews on Trip Advisor and the person said "if you're straight you may not be into this as there's a heavy influence of LGBQT+ type stuff". 1) I didn't feel like there was a heavy influence not that it really mattered to us and 2) Being straight had zero impact on my enjoyment of the overall show. IDK just felt it was a weird comment though I understood this was their personal feelings I guess I thought it was odd to broaden it to "if you're straight". Both my husband and I enjoyed it and had no problems with anything related to it.

 

[wenrob]

Very true. For me Disney is "controlled chaos". They have crowd control down to a science. That being said, this past Decemeber, I was at MK when the monorail was down after the fireworks. That was just total chaos and if that were my first experience with WDW, I would definitely rethink going again.

Exactly. “Controlled chaos” is a good way to put it. If you have been more than once you know what to expect and can make a general plan. We’re Disneyland vets and know the patterns and what/when to avoid. Not that we haven’t been caught out a time or two but knowing the CMs have a handle on it keeps me from panicking.

 

[skyblue17]

It's actually a bit interesting thinking about this thread. We just got back from Vegas and saw Zumanity (a very adult themed Cirque show). I was reading one of the reviews on Trip Advisor and the person said "if you're straight you may not be into this as there's a heavy influence of LGBQT+ type stuff". 1) I didn't feel like there was a heavy influence not that it really mattered to us and 2) Being straight had zero impact on my enjoyment of the overall show. IDK just felt it was a weird comment though I understood this was their personal feelings I guess I thought it was odd to broaden it to "if you're straight". Both my husband and I enjoyed it and had no problems with anything related to it.

I've not seen Zumanity, though I know it is considered to be the most "burlesque" of the Cirque shows. The vibe I've gotten from some is that in-your-face body positivity or celebration can be interpreted as catering to a specific audience. Given how some people seem to be terrified of the sexual spectrum (such as a straight man going to Zumanity and enjoying the performance of the men in the show..."what does that say about me? will my straight dude friends think I'M gay?!"), I'm not super surprised by that review. But it's a good illustration that everyone being open-minded as they can is best, because it's a lot easier to enjoy things.

 

[Mackenzie Click-Mickelson]

I've not seen Zumanity, though I know it is considered to be the most "burlesque" of the Cirque shows. The vibe I've gotten from some is that in-your-face body positivity or celebration can be interpreted as catering to a specific audience. Given how some people seem to be terrified of the sexual spectrum (such as a straight man going to Zumanity and enjoying the performance of the men in the show..."what does that say about me? will my straight dude friends think I'M gay?!"), I'm not super surprised by that review. But it's a good illustration that everyone being open-minded as they can is best, because it's a lot easier to enjoy things.

Good points. The reviewer in this case was a female with a husband. I think you're right on the sexual spectrum aspect. That makes a lot of sense. I also think your open minded aspect is right on the money.

I guess for that person being straight is their defining point on comfortability or not when faced with non-strictly 'straight' aspects. I can respect that as a personal level I think I was caught off guard by the reviewer's assumption that (and this is their quote) "It’s very dark and fetish driven, with a dominant LBGTQ vibe. So if that’s your thing great, but if you’re straight and want a true burlesque show, this is not the one for you." as if all straight people would have this viewpoint and be put off by LBGTQ aspects but I guess I'm not entirely surprised either now that I really think about it. Totally overthinking this one tiny review for sure lol but it made me think of this thread.

 

[Imzadi]

OMG!!! I just watched the sound check for Madonna! She's closing the Pride Festival here tonight at Pride Island, at Pier 97 at 57th St. I can't say much about what I saw as security will probably hunt me down & make me delete any spoilers of her performance. I couldn't take any photos or they would have tossed us out. I probably can say that she opened with Vogue. That's pretty much a no-brainer that she'd open for this community with that song.

I had never seen Madonna in concert before. She was amazing & her backup dancers are fierce!

 

[Imzadi]

They just finished a fireworks display to close the the World Pride Fest. I just love how my city went full out to celebrate this.

As I walked around town, I also saw a lot of restaurants & bars have pride flags up to show their inclusiveness and to let patrons know they are welcome.

Madonna was supposed to go onstage around 9pm-ish. But, I talked to 2 guys who've loyally gone to her concerts for years and she's never on time. They said she's often been an hour or so. I hope she wasn't performing with the fireworks going on.

Anyway, now that she's supposed to have performed already, I can say, assuming she didn't change anything from the sound check: She opened with Vogue. She was wearing an all black leather outfit. Her back up dancers were in all black too. Then she did 2 new songs. One that sounded like it was for World Pride, or their cause. She talked a bit. Then she did the third song about gun control, saying it's something that affects all of us.

I got into the festival as I know some people working the event. That's how I got in early, with them. I was going mainly to check out the free swag. I didn't know Madonna was going to be performing until I heard it on the news this morning. Then one of my friends happened to hear Madonna's music playing. And I thought, "No way are they just randomly playing her music. I bet it's her sound check!" We ran over. And it was! We got to hover in the back, but had a perfect view! I'm still psyched about it. When I was younger and she was at the top, she was kind of on my bucket list of performers to see live.

I'll see if someone posts a video of her later.