So......after all kinds of debauchery involving one of the bestest buffets I've ever encountered (thanks Tristen 'n' co) and PBRs and biscuits and gravy at 3 in the morning, we all retired and met back up at Misty's the next morning. Luckily the revised parade route started about 6 blocks away from Misty's apartment, so we didn't have to wander very far. We had time to grab us some sidewalk space, grab some coffee, and the parade started... First off were the Dykes on Bikes, who were....rowr! There's just somethin' about dykes on motorcycles....hot! The DoB circled around for awhile. What ya can't hear in this photo is them completely revving out their bikes and driving 50 or 60 or so up and down the street. As I said before....rowr! Then, leading up the main body of the parade were the "color guard". As I'm sure y'all know, I'm nowhere near any kind of big fan of the military, but I do gotta give big chops to veterans who are willing to head up the pride parade. Rock! ....especially this guy carrying the pride flag. Gotta admit.....that's the shit. Then there were a bunch of people doing the whole marriage theme thing. As some of you out-of-staters may have forgotten, due to the curious general lack of interest in Portland paid by the national media, we currently have over 3000 gay couples legally wed......several months before Massachusetts got their shit together. Then there were gay democrats. Oddly enough there wasn't anyone marching in the parade with any Bush signs. Hm.....guess I'll go ahead and cast my vote for this Kerry guy in November....;P Oregon.....just wouldn't be a proper parade without a stagecoach..... Woot! Basic Rights Oregon peoples! They rock the casbah! There were a whole buncha "trans inclusive legislation" signs, which made me wonder if there was some new trans law happening that I didn't know about....which was kind of embarrassing....you'd think I'd be on top of this stuff. Yay! Big Yay! This is Lisa Naito, Serena Cruz, and Maria Rojo de Steffey....three of the four county commisioners who put their jobs on the line for us. I was too busy yelling "WE LOVE YOU!!!!" to take their picture as they were coming up, but I'm kind of glad I got a back shot, 'cause I didn't notice their sign during the parade. If ya can't read it it says "Coming soon......GET MARRIED!" These girls rock! The "bad girls" of the Portland Leather Alliance....rowr! ;) Um.....gay balloons and stuff....... I forget *exactly* what this stands for, but these are folks fighting to make Oregon schools safe for LGBT students.....which is a hella rockin cause. Yay.....dignity village. Again, for all of you out-of-staters, is a bunch of oregonians fighting *hard* for the rights and dignity of homeless folks. Her sign started peeling just as I took the picture, but it reads "I'm single!" Rowr! ;) 'k.....this is where I totally started tearing up during the parade. There was a BIG buncha folks marching with PFLAG. I so wanted to run up to any of these folks and beg them to adopt me. Dammit....I do love my parents, but I doubt they'll ever be the kinda people to join PFLAG, never mind being so badass as to march in a pride parade. Right here is a shot of the parents every LGBT kid deserves. Seriously......badass parents.....yay! The Northwest Gender Alliance. The Radical Faeries.....always fun. The Oregon Humane Society.....if you ever need to adopt yourself a gay dog, cat, rabbit, etc.....these are the people to go to. (straight pets available too) I'm trying to remember exactly what this organization was called....basically a lgbt marching band. But they had these really cool stilt walkers/dancer who just rocked. Definitely a highlight of the parade. More of the stilt walkers....... and some more..... then there were the Powell's employees and friends/family. Yay! Powell's rocks. They all had coolio literary queer signs. DKPDX....Portland's (now) famous drag king troupe. Recently featured on NPR as being the go-to guys on the subject of drag kings. Clinton St. theater's float for their weekly Rocky Horror show. Their current Dr. Frank-n-furter is, well, a little *too* hot if ya ask me. Regardless, they proceeded about a half block from where we were and then performed "Sweet Transvestite" in its entirety. It was pretty hot. The kids heading up SMYRC (Sexual Minority Youth Recreation Center, if the signs not clear). These kids are totally badass. This is probably my favorite photo from the entire weekend. I am *so* impressed by the kids and volunteers of SMYRC. If I could have been even a little percentage as out and proud as these kids when I was their age.....wow. Seriously.....wow! These kids are heroes to me. I gotta say I was impressed.....Starbucks is far from loved in this town. Ok, there's plenty better coffee, but, hey, they start ya at something resembling a living wage, offer health insurance, and allow their employees the opportunity to represent them in the pride parade. Er, honestly there's far worse employers out there. Then there were the asian/pacific island queers...... and the latino queers, who, I have to say, had some of the best costumes, and were some really badass dancers. especially this particular queen who had some seriously amazing shimmy going on.....I mean, really.....rowr! Finally, nearly at the end of the parade, since they registered a bit late was the e-room crew and their badass truck. Keep forgetting to ask who owns the truck, but how hot is it? er....at least til it broke down and the crew ended up having to push it off the line. Aw......bad luck for the E, but y'all are still our favorite queer bar in Portland. Finally, after a break from all the queerness, we headed on back to the waterfront festivities, where I remembered to snap a picture of Stacy at her Technodyke/Fat Girl Speaks/Pussy Pucker Pots/Up All Night booth. I snagged one of her newer literati lip balms, specifically PoeMegranate, which, I gotta say, totally rocks. As you can see to the left, girls can't resist taking their tops off for Stacy. ;) Regardless.....it ended up being one hell of a weekend, and here's to looking forward to Pride 2005. Yay!