Photos of USA '06

Gay Pride Parade

what's philadelphia without a gay pride parade? ok there are a lot of other things to see here but for those unaware, philadelphia is the capital of everything gay (or so i heard). so it was coincidental that we bumped into the parade on our way back from grocery shopping.

the first float i came across. this was what got me curious as to why the roads were closed on a sunday morning. my initial thoughts of construction work going on was a pretty weak one when there should be no such work on sunday.

its the gay parade party. at first i thought they were plus sized women. well you can see how wrong i was. drag queens on mobile!!!

what's a gay pride parade, or any parade for that matter, without some people trying to rain down on your party. well, here's the anti-gay for you. they were a pretty quiet bunch and from my opinion, they were there more for people to mock and laugh at than to make a stand.

yeah there weren't that many of them. my best guess? the rest of the anti-gay supporters prefered sleeping on a sleepy sunday morning. who wouldn't right?

another gay mobile float. apparently this float has been doing it for quite some time. you go gays!!

the long line of parade. what's funny was that not all the banners you see are gay-related. there were some that stood for anti-child labour in asian countries (??) and another for safe driving. now where did those come from? their gay leader?

one of the floats perfoming an item for the crowd. and i do not know if those 2 men were gays. didn't bother to ask. but by the way he was sucking that lollipop and looking, you could make a guess. and most probably be right.

a much better view of the float that was performing above. somehow it seems to pinkish and reminds me more of teenage girls than gays and lesbians dun you think? maybe a lighter shade of pink would have worked better.

and when the float moves, who do we see but the judges? what's a parade of floats without deciding who's the best? getting first would definitely justify all those hard work. what about second and third? or unplaced?

and for those of you wondering how crowded it was, here's a picture to show you. now thats just about 100m of road covered with people. picture that for a kilometre or two at least on either side and you have a better picture of how crowded the place was.

a close up look of the judges whose decisions would decide the winners and losers of the gay pride parade. i know what they'll be saying at the awards ceremony later. "it was a tough choice this year with so many great entries but we had to choose a winner." or "you all were great and deseriving, give yourselves a pat on the back."

and here's a parting picture for all you animal lovers. it seems that gays and lesbians category have spread to the animal kingdom as well. though from the way this dog posed when i was taking its picture seems to suggest that his choice was more a result of pressure than self.

posted by Tariq @ 10:34 PM