Phoenix Gay Pride 2012

Well a bunch of us decided to take the Metro into Phoenix this weekend to watch Gay Pride 2012

The temperature reached 101 degrees at one point but we came prepared with lots of water, sunscreen and hats or umbrellas to shade ourselves form the sun.  It was a fun day with great friends

Our ride on the Metro was great - air conditioned and clean cars with comfortable seats and lots of windows to view Mesa, Tempe and Phoenix as we rode towards downtown.

Here we all are under Under the Rainbow - this location was the entrance to the park where the Festivities were to be held following the parade.

Here's a close up of our little group. Left to right: Susan, Flo, Cheryl, Susan, Robin, Pearl.

Unfortunately there were Christian Right Wing Hate-mongers screaming (very Un-Christian like) obscenities and and hateful things to all the parade attendees, parade viewers, and anyone who walked by.... pretty sick.

This was our view on the parade route - note the water bottle....

The 'Theme' of this year's parade was Lady Gaga's title song "Born This Way" - so this float had people dressed as babies dancing to that song. Very fun.

And following that float was this one titles: 'Born to Sing'... with a Kareoke machine and lots of folks singing off tune.... 

The Motorcycle contingent is usually a pretty big one in these parades - but this one was pretty small - less than a dozen motorcycles but still great to see.

And of course being Arizona - they followed the motorcycles with the Cowboys.

Even Macy's was represented in the parade - very cool.

And leading a political contingent was the Statue of Liberty looking for equality for all.

This float was very cool - you can see people looking like President Obama and Michelle Obama atop this float with all the signs reading 'no (hate)H8'

As you can see - here in Az. umbrellas are not for rain - but to shade the sun.

And of course the parade had it's share of attention getters in extreme costumes (or lack of them).

This was a Wells Fargo Bank contingent - celebrating Stonewall Survivors.

These honorees were among the eldest Stonewall Survivors.

  

 To read more about the 1969 Stonewall Inn Riots go to :
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_riots 
 Also you can see images from the Riot if you google: Stonewall Riot photos

The PFLAG contingent is always my favorite - it's "Parents, Families and Friends of Gays" and the parents and children's signs are always very touching.

This was one of the marchers from the Circe de Soleil contingent - very colorful.

And speaking of colorful - the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgents were very colorful as well.

And it wasn't just the parade marchers that were colorfully dressed - the viewers were as well.

"Miss" New Mexico was one of many 'beauty queens' at the festival after the parade.

 

 Though the Arizona Pride Parade and Festivities was alot smaller than the San Francisco or Boston it was certainly fun and interesting.  Though alot hotter as well - we still had a blast and enjoyed all.