Part 2 of Pride DC 2012, the PA Ave. Festival

Back in the good old days of the 1990s (the era of the 1993 March on Washington), Pride Festival was usually held around the 20^th of June, the Summer solstice, and the March occurred on Sunday, mid day, as the parade ended around the P-Street beach and the festival was held in a field above N Street.  With green grass around, it wasn’t as hot.  In fact, on a cloudy Pride Sunday in 1991, it was downright cool.

In those years, Baltimore’s Pride happened first, and Philadelphia’s was in May.  NYC’s is always the last Sunday in June, because that’s when the Stonewall Raid happened in 1969, on a Thursday night near the end of June.

Minneapolis always does the last weekend in June, with a two-day Loring Park fair that is one of the largest physically in the nation.  The March is always on Sunday.  The Festival follows up on a similar May Day festival in Bloomfield park.   In 2002, it was 102F on the Pride Fair grounds. 

Dallas always held its march in September, when I lived there in the 1980s.

Yesterday’s festival in Washington DC was very hot, because of the blacktop on Pennsylvania Ave. 
   

Many advocacy orgs had booths.   I wonder who the hunk was speaking for the Libertarian Party. (I have since been told it's Arvin Vohra, candidate for Congress in Maryland.  

There were several booths regarding military issues near the entrance, such as SLDN.

There mow are other organizations dealing with families of military members with same-sex partners.

There were some performances: the end stage, and arts stage, and a Joy of Motion dance,.

as with this segment.

Movie distributor TLA Releasing was present

as was the festival Reel Affirmations.

The issue of HIV Prevention is still around:

as is the idea of a vaccine some day.

Some people don't look quite as good in summer sunlight as in dark shadows.  Remember the conclusion of the "Gurrelieder".