Today, I stood out in the rain with one of my best guy friends Dan, amongst hundreds of other people to celebrate NC’s 31st Annual Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual + Transgender Festival. The parade was on Duke University‘s Campus which, despite its paths of mud that my boots kept getting stuck in, is quite lovely.
Once we checked out the variety of vendor tents, we came upon the small group of angry hate throwers that always have to show their mean ol’ faces and we had to get a closer look at their thought-provoking signs. I’ll never understand why anyone wants to waste their energy on proclaiming hate during a time when people come together + are happy. But they were highly outnumbered by the amount of advocates and anytime they tried to preach, their words would be drowned out by positivity from supporters, like the Carolina Rollergirls cheering “SKATE NOT HATE“. There was also a really amazing woman walking back + forth in front of them, yelling about the positive impacts of organizations like Planned Parenthood and The LGBT Center of Raleigh, holding up a jar for donations You can kind of see her behind backwards hat guy in the photo above. She was loud + proud + awesome. Notice the sign of the cross between Dan and I… yes.
The parade was led by this dazzling pink sheriff’s car which made my pink-loving heart all a-flutter. There were a lot of political figures showing their support and tons of kids with ridiculous energy having an absolute blast. Many of the floats had candy throwers and I got oodles of Sweet-Tarts’ trollopy cousin, Sassy Tarts which totally made me laugh.
There was this magical man dressed as my spirit animal, the glorious hummingbird, which symbolizes the enjoyment of life and lightness of being. This magnificent little bird easily dismisses negativity or bad vibes + is a great reminder to enjoy life’s simple pleasures. I cheered quite loudly for Mr. Humming Bird… he was beyond fabulous!
On top of doggie-related vendors + what looked like a doggie-daycare, there were many a pooch on parade, which made me even happier than I already was. I had to run out and give this guy a quick smooch for his collar was superb and his face was beautiful! His name was Melvin and he smelled like Cheerios.
Even though the weather was quite poopy and the rain couldn’t figure out what it wanted to do, everyone was super happy and in great spirits. It was a really beautiful time and I’m so happy I went, despite the cold I will probably come down with. I ran into an old friend, ate some of the best nachos I’ve ever had EVER from Chubby’s Taco and left with a bag full of condoms, slap bracelets, and Sassy Tarts. Saturday was grande.
Plus, I found Jesus…
Happy Write Away 