Chicago Gay Pride Parade - Post 6 - Signs of the Times (epsilon) - 6.24.12

So I was mentioning that there was one more set of signs, that were all from one group.  It's a group, that in about ten years of going to the parade, I don't remember ever seeing before.

It's a GLTB (I'm assuming it's all inclusive, even though everyone in the parade was a guy) sobriety group.

Talk about people who could be in a closet in a closet in a closet...  So I think it's pretty cool that these guys got up and marched in the parade.

 Right down to your undies... at least as far as we can see. ;)

 I find the one on the left interesting.  "You're only as sick as your secrets".  I can't decide if I have a problem with it or not.  I think sometimes we need secrets.  But in their context, I guess it's not quite as... problematic.  I don't know...

The guy on the right has one of the weirder signs.  It says (since I'm sure you can't read it through the glare), "I texted what to whom last night?!"

 Not much to say here, other than, "You go!"

 Another one where I didn't really get a good shot of the sign.  It says, "Grateful to be sober, Proud to be Gay."

"Where's my car?"  I'm guessing if you don't know, you aren't sober enough to be driving it, so...?

But what's interesting is the juxtaposition of some of these signs.  "Where's my car?" guy is right next to "You'll never have to be alone" guy.




Anyway, I thought their signs were interesting.  Mostly because about half of them were so incredibly serious... the other half were decidedly not.

T-shirts tomorrow, then I think I'll start on the folder I have labeled "Outfits or the Lack Thereof". ;)

Chicago Gay Pride Parade - Post 5 - Signs of the Times (delta) - 6.24.12

Okay, one more set of random signs.  (Then a set of less-than-random signs, then t-shirt 'signs'...)  I'm starting to get the idea I could be posting this parade until Halloween. :p

 Okay, so this group is here every year.  I guess as a female I don't really get to have an opinion on this, but it seems that the only time I hear about this (supposedly) massive movement to leave little boys intact is at the Pride parade.  Is it that big of a deal?

I will say this: they have a bucketload of information on their signs, which typically go by pretty fast.    So apparently there are two websites about restoring a removed foreskin and two on how to end circumcision.   But the fun stuff is in the small print.  On the left, "Over 200,000 men are restoring their foreskins."  And all I can think is, "Right now?  This second?"  And how do you even *get* stats like this?

On the right it says "About half of US boys are being left intact.  Two-thirds in the four Western states."  Which has me going, "Why do we need that geographical breakdown?"  And also, "Is Alaska the fourth?  Or Hawai'i?" I'm assuming the first three are California, Oregon and Washington.  But then I come back to... why do we care about the geography of it all?

 This sign gets the pendant in me all worked up.

First of all, how do you ask a baby? Second of all, little girls don't even know that the body part in question even exists, so I can't imagine they have any opinion on the matter at all.

And then the whole "Male is not a diagnosis" thing.  I'm pretty sure no one is saying it is.  Since circumcision is cosmetic surgery, of a sort, that would be like someone who says a woman who just decides she needs breast augmentation is saying that 'female is a diagnosis'?  Does that make sense?  Not to me.

But like I said, it's not a debate I wade hip deep into since a.) I don't have the body part in question and b.) I don't have a son I need to make the decision for.

 Okay, back to the less controversial.  More cool signs by the ACLU.  At least I think it's ACLU.  It could have been part of the PFLAG group.

 I do love that for all the very carefully prepared, fancy-pants signs that we get at the Pride Parade, we also get someone who just has an opinion and wants to share it.

I also like her opinion. :)

Ah!  This is the other ACLU sign picture I was thinking of.  So I guess the one above was PFLAG.












Alright... that's all the random signs.  Tomorrow is signs from a new group (at least that I don't remember seeing before), then t-shirts with opinions. :)

Chicago Gay Pride Parade - Post 1 - 6.24.12

So today was Chicago's Gay Pride Parade.  It's the second largest parade we have all year.  Due to that (850,000 people watching!) they rearranged the route this year, starting it out in Uptown.  More or less just up the block from me.  So, of course, I grabbed my camera, packed a cooler and headed out. :)

Now like the Zombie March, I feel I should give a mild 'warning' to the regular readers of my blog.  The Chicago Gay Pride Parade celebrates all forms of sexuality, all forms of sex and embraces all body types.  To that end there are very frank signs about sex/sexuality, sexually explicit gestures and posters and many of the parade participants are not at all ashamed of their bodies and wear very little.  This can include topless women.

So if you or someone likely to look over your shoulder is sensitive to this sort of thing, you may wish to look away.  I'll try to make sure that at least the first image in each post would make it past the U.S. censors for network prime time, but after that...   That said, this is a family event.  People bring their kids of all ages and the event is broadcast on t.v. so it isn't *that* 'adult'.

The first set of images I've pulled are pretty random, but a lot of fun.  Starting tomorrow, things will get grouped in their regular collections for each post.

 With all the millions of rainbow flags I saw today, these balloon flags were probably my favorite.  They were part of (I think) the Office Max group.  I just love the density of the color and the not perfect straightness of the lines.

Speaking of flags, I really wish this had come out a little sharper.  The two flags and the tons of bubbles?  Very, very fun image.

 And, of course, there had to be a few characters we'd recognize.  For the non-locals, this is Benny the Bull.  He's the mascot for Chicago's NBA Basketball Team.  He was dancing in that outfit, on top of the bus, in the 91 degree heat.  Ouch.  He was really working the rainbow flag cape, though. :)

The little androgynous Android dudes holding hands is always adorable.  Google's been there every year I have, but the little Android guys have only been there the last few.  I love that they're okay with people possibly thinking their little character might be gay.

 This is hard to see, unfortunately.  This is a middle aged woman, twirling a baton as part of one of the (many, many) politicians' groups.  If you make the shot bigger (or squint), you'll see the baton in midair.

 This is one of my favorite groups every year.  The Chicago Cowboys.  They always seem to be having such an amazingly good time!

 Now, we all know I'm not one for portraits, but I really do love this shot.  She was (if I recall correctly) part of one of the first ACTIVE duty military gay/lesbian groups.  I think she's adorable and seems to be having such a good time.

There will be a whole post on the amazing costumes of the samba group, but I really loved the surprised expression on this girl's face.


... And now for a couple of shots that those with certain sensitivities might want to pass by...

 This girl was with a vegetarian protest group.  She has on no shirt.  She is painted.  Someone painted an elephant right on her skin.  It takes looking at her for a second (or from the back) to realize that it's not a bodice or corset, that it's just body paint.

And then this last one gets the award for the most 'head-scratchy' costume.

Look carefully.  His 'skirt' doesn't wrap all the way around him.  There's a gap on his left leg (right side of the picture).  Which means it has to be held up with something like strong tape or spirit gum.  I've used spirit gum in theater.  It is *never* fun to pull off your skin. 

Let me just say, I hope that manscaping goes at least a few more inches south or pulling off that gum is going to take hair and *that* would be really, really, really unpleasant!


Okay, so there's ten to start us off with.  Tomorrow we'll start with things in proper groups. :)