Two weeks ago, we took the kids to the 25th (or 26th?) Northampton Pride March and Rally. I remember being surprised when I first learned that our town even *had* a Pride March because a) it's such a small city (I spent my babydyke days chanting my way through the Boston Pride Parade, and laughed to think of what a Northampton Pride March would look like) and b) everyday is like a Pride march here! I mean, not exactly like a pride march, but we definitely live in a bubble. It's a fabulous bubble where lesbians abound and queerness surrounds, and it's not like we need to have a *march* to let people know, "we're here, we're queer, get used to it!" But, being the lovely group of queer folks that we are, we apparently still like to take to the streets and celebrate our queerness. And, it's no small affair either! This year there were apparently about 7,500 people there! It was a crowd. A very happy, cheerfully queer crowd.
I love bringing the kids to Pride because it's one of the only times when we really celebrate the fact that we're a queer family. It's just so regular for Luke and Jaz that they don't realize that our family is different from most. This year was the first time when I feel like they started to get it--not necessarily that our family is different--just that it's kind of special to have two moms at Pride. I also love bringing the kids to Pride just to expose them to the larger queer culture. I love that they get to see all the folks in drag and the nearly-naked gay boys dancing on the floats, and the dykes on bikes and the Trannies, and the gay marching band . . . and that they get to see how happy everyone is and how much fun they're having. And there were times when both Lena and I got a little teary, watching the group of "Catholic Parents Who Love Our Gay Children" march by, and the 80-year-old lesbians (what must Pride be like for them?), and the countless gay youth marching with their high school G/SAs.
Zeben was most impressed by the arch of rainbow balloons that are carried at the front of the parade and then tied down at the rally when the march is over.
It reminded me of how much Luke and Jaz loved the rainbow balloons when they were Zeb's age, and it was fun to find an old photo of them at Pride in 2004.
But I do want the kids to know that Pride is about more than just rainbows. The energy at Pride is so different now than it was when I was 16, marching through the streets of Boston ("2, 4, 6, 8, Don't Assume Your Kids Are Straight!"). It felt so important then. It was about making change happen and being part of a movement. And now it sometimes does feel a little bit like it's just about the rainbows, at least once the march itself is over. The rally is mostly a collection of booths where vendors sell everything rainbow you could ever want to buy, and gone are the days of motivational speeches and brave testimonies. Some of this is surely due to the fact that we've won a huge part of the fight (gay marriage is legal here now), but there's still a lot more fighting to do. And it's sad to see consumerism slinking its way in to what was once a purely activist experience.
On the way home, I was trying to start a conversation with Luke and Jaz about all of this, wanting to impart on to them what Pride is really about. They listened, but didn't say much. I asked them if they had any questions about anything they had seen, wondering if this would be the year when they'd realize exactly what it meant to be Transgender or what they'd thought of some of the more sexually explicit acts (there was nothing inappropriate, but definitely lots of stuff that the kids aren't used to seeing).
Lukas spoke up, "Actually, Mom, I did have one question about the Pride parade."
"What is it?"
"Remember that man who we saw doing a kind of dancing? The one who didn't have his shirt on? He was just wearing, like, underwear? And he was dancing?"
I braced myself.
"Well, I noticed he was dancing on the back of that truck, and do you think that was very safe? Because it didn't really look very safe to me, with the truck driving and him standing up and dancing!"
It was all I could do not to burst out laughing! That's Luke, always keeping safety at the top of the list!
In other Rainbow News, we have finally (after *years* of talking about it) made the switch to cloth toilet "paper." I hope this isn't too gross to mention here. But our new cloths are rainbow colored (organic flannel), and they're really quite lovely. Since we're already washing Zeben's cloth diapers, it's really not a big deal to add "Family Cloth," as it's most often called, to the mix.
Lena cutting an old diaper into small squares to use as Toilet Cloths (TC?).
Which would you prefer?
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