Gay pride parades held across nation By ADAM GOLDMAN, Associated Press
Writer
Mon Jun 26, 6:03 AM ET


NEW YORK - Drag queens in knee-high boots, kids with two dads and New
York City's first openly gay city council speaker were among hundreds
of thousands attending gay pride parades across the nation, weeks after
a vicious attack on a popular gay singer and the 25th anniversary of
the start of the AIDS epidemic.

Tens of thousands of spectators lined Fifth Avenue on Sunday for the
city's annual parade, withstanding intermittent rain and turning the
route into a sea of rainbows with colorful floats and lavish costumes.

"Everyone else has a chance to express their affection freely, and for
one day in New York, you can be free and not feel ashamed or
embarrassed," said 42-year-old Roberto Hermosilla, from Miami,
attending his ninth gay pride parade.

On San Francisco's Market street, thousands of festively dressed people
looked on as marching bands, dancers and floats bearing corporate logos
streamed by. On one float, a bearded man wearing a white lace miniskirt
and fishnet stockings sang Madonna's "Like a Virgin." A half-dozen men
dressed in underwear and top hats danced behind him.

The parades also had a political message, with parade-goers bearing
slogans about gay marriage, AIDS, and discrimination.

"It's to have a good time, but also to remember the issues out there,"
said Jane Woodman, 26, in San Francisco. "There's still a lot of work
to be done," she said, noting the national debate raging over whether
gays should have a legal right to marry.

The New York parade marked the very public and triumphant return of
singer Kevin Aviance, who rolled down Fifth Avenue atop a fake
pachyderm and a circus-themed float just weeks after the drag queen was
viciously beaten and suffered a broken jaw. Police have charged four
young men with assaulting the artist while yelling anti-gay slurs.

The theme of New York's Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride
March was "The Fight for Love and Life," but there was plenty of talk
about hate following the Aviance attack. The New York Police Department
said reports of anti-gay bias crimes totaled 25 through mid-June -
compared with 19 over the same period in 2005.

"A few hateful homophobes will not set us back," said City Council
Speaker Christine Quinn, who marched in the parade. In January, Quinn
became the first woman and first openly gay person to lead the council.

Organizations that marched in San Francisco included Rocket Dog Rescue,
a volunteer group that helps abandoned dogs find homes. One marcher
with the group walked with a pit bull that was dressed in a rainbow
tutu.

In Ohio on Saturday, thousands gathered for the 25th Stonewall Columbus
parade. Michael Eblin, marching in his first parade, followed a black
Hummer pulling a float of men.

"For the first time, I'm going to be part of a majority," the
18-year-old Eblin said just before the parade began.

Along the route, protesters held large signs reading, "Homo sex is sin"
and "God abhors you," while a boy in blue tie-dye held up another: "2
Moms. 2 Dads. Too Cool."

The parades commemorate the Stonewall uprising of 1969, when gay bar
patrons resisted a police raid.

___

Associated Press writer Dan Goodin in San Francisco contributed to this
report.

Lloyd Davies, Time Lord
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