“The Stonewall Riots
In the summer of 1969, the New York gay activist movement was born when a group of gay New Yorkers made a stand against raiding police officers at The Stonewall Inn, a popular gay bar in the Village. In those days, gay bars were regularly raided by the police. But on June 27, 1969, the patrons of The Stonewall Inn had had enough...” (About.com – Manhattan, NY)
Well that was 45 years ago and the social consciousness has definitely broadened. Gay marriage and providing for gay partners has become legally available throughout much of the country. Stonewall is now celebrated by parades rather than angry confrontations.
Wilton Manors (see pic) is in Fort Lauderdale and will host the timely (June) parade commemorating Stonewall but Miami Beach has scheduled April for its Gay Pride Parade. And it is one of, if not THE, event of the year. The festivities start on Friday night and of course flows into the wee hours. LGBTQ or Gender and Sexual Diversity reign as the themes for this extravaganza.
Our small group of four started out on Belle Isle and picked up two more at Lincoln Road and headed for Ocean Drive to meet our last member. However there seemed to be a few more people gathering:
Chris went up and down the street looking for the high heel race but it seems that it would not be run this year. He did catch sight of the forming of the parade as they awaited the 12:00 clock start. Some bounders jumped out with microphones and claimed that fire and brimstone awaited most of the participants and they should repent. We all found ourselves wishing that the opening group of lesbian motorcycle riders (Dykes on Bikes) would catch up to them and imprint some serious tread. They soon fled anyway and the festivities were well on their way.
To the literal world (do I mean that literally?) gay is equivalent to fun and the floats imparted that message:
Then there were those who were a bit left of “Whoopee” on the fun spectrum. In some cases the PG rating was in question:
And then there was some serious skin:
It is Miami Beach you know and the weather demands it.
Striking characters abounded. There was your black Adonis:
The groupings were quite eclectic:
and one must say inventive:
We had positioned ourselves across the street from “The Palace” on Ocean Drive. It is on the corner opposite the Hotel Victor and as night establishes itself so do the female personators at The Palace. They drift through the street and sidewalk crooning, flirting and entertaining the tourist crowd. The cabaret had placed a podium outside on the sidewalk and a hostess to entertain their party crowd. This is Division One for this type of entertainment and they do not disappoint.
Midway through the parade the Marshals made an appearance. They would be Gloria Estefan and Kenny Ortega:
An impressive array of paraders included the Miami Beach Police and Fire Departments along with Emergency Squads; many high school Gay/Straight Alliances; University of Miami and Florda International University; the local NBC affiliate; TD Bank; Coca Cola and proud parents holding signs proclaiming their love for their gay children.
There were some who were more memorable than others. A unanimous “Wow!” was awarded to:
One must give front and back perspectives.
Some of us were very much caught up in the fun and frolic:
Well, nobody's head exploded but we sure had a lot of fun. Next year's resolutions include a float for Provincetown partiers and bubble makers. We are all in that rainbow flag somewhere, the exact location not all that important. Peace.
