I'm here. You're queer. Let's booze to it.

Though Pride technically lasted the entirety of last week, yesterday’s parade serves as the ultimate gay event. It also happens to be one of my favorite days of the year-- it's no coincidence that it fell on 6 month marker of Christmas eve. As a hetero, perhaps the parade is not explicitly for me, but Pride establishes a tone of acceptance that is thoroughly refreshing and enjoyable to all who embrace it. Though Pride deals with serious issues such as gay rights and AIDS, the tone is overwhelmingly optimistic and celebratory. Looking up at fire escape upon fire escape of dancing shirtless men, one can’t help but feel joy.

Highlights of the parade included a very racy Altoids float, gay cheerleaders, and gay NYPD, who received the largest applause of all. Witnessing all the different groups, it seemed that, for every NYC activity you can participate in, there exists a group of gays who do it together (ex: take your pick of TWO gay color guard assemblies).

Though I had a wonderful time at the parade, I think our post-parade Pride party was the best part of the day. It featured watermelon vodka, the softest of gay porn, a water balloon fight, and a round of celebrity, theme of gay (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celebrity_%28game%29). Our group consisted of a solid mix of homosexual, heterosexuals, and metrosexuals. Yet, the crowd was far from a forced alliance of orientations. It was simply another silly evening for a Graight group of friends. Friends for whom I have Pride every day.