| Palm Springs for Gay Men: Gay Pride 2003 |
The Greater Palm Springs Gay Pride 2003 was, in contrast to earlier such events, celebrated inside lots of clothing, occasionally intermingled with a bare, shivering torso or two. After weeks of hot Santa Ana winds, that, with their 100 degree zephyric ambience, allowed 3300 houses all over southern California to burn to cinder, a cold front had moved in and given us clouds and 50 degree chills. The impulse to feel free and rebelliously naked was superseded by a craving for heavy sweaters and hot chocolate. But, within all those textiles, there were more souls craving to be free than ever before -- our Gay Pride is growing even faster than our Gay Community.
You will see a selection of floats from the parade down Palm Canyon on November 2 and you may notice all the electioneering - almost all the candidates took the opportunity to ask for the gay vote. Little did we know that two days later, the Mayor and the City Council majority would be gay. In a troubled world, Palm Springs was all happiness during this blessed week.
And then we went for some post-parade images at the festival at the Angel Stadium. Only a few years ago it took place on Arenas Road, just imagine! Yes, we did not want the festival to move away from "our" street, no way! But it did, and the space for it tripled, and now we're afraid that soon the baseball stadium won't be big enough. This year it was attended by so many thousands of gay and gay-friendly visitors, that there was hardly breathing room during the crunch time after the parade. Where can we move it to next? Anyone with a football stadium somewhere for the festival?
THE PROUD PARADE
THE PROUD FESTIVAL
