Princeton Pride Parade

Yesterday Princeton held their first Pride Parade. Seems with the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots many places are holding Pride events, and that is great.

Warning: potentially unpopular opinions ahead.

Princeton's felt, well, rather Princeton. Even looking at my pictures I see a bunch of white people wearing rainbows. I'm sure some are LGBTQ, but many others care like we do. There were some kids and some people of color, but most looked like they walked there. Corporations from Stark & Stark to Triumph Brewery to Small World Coffee (and many others) walked in this 10-minute parade handing out stickers, beads, reusable bags, and other future trash.

Governor Phil Murphy walked with his wife, but I didn't notice them. 

For me the highlight was seeing Chet and Frank -- a local married couple most famous for posing with the oxen in Hopewell a few years ago wearing matching outfits -- matching to each other and to the oxen. After years of following them on Facebook, I was a little starstruck to meet them in person. Frank has been attending the NYC Pride Parade since about 1973 or 1974. He spoke about the early days of the Pride movement.

On the positive, nothing bad happened. The weather was perfect (sunny and in the 70s -- very rare for New Jersey this year). We stood in a shady spot near the start of the route. Pictures closer to the turn from Witherspoon to Paul Robeson Place looked more crowded. A friend was there and received a free Pride flag -- a memento I would have snatched up for Ashley who was at work.

Krystal Knapp posted a lot of pictures at Planet Princeton. Her headline says "thousands," even walking from the front to the back (but on parallel streets) to the after party it never once felt crowded.

It felt like it could have been the Memorial Day Parade. Other than the ubiquitous rainbows, nothing stood out as Gay Pride, but maybe that is the point. LGBTQ people are people. They live here, they work here, they pay taxes here. Still, a few drag queens would have added some flair and panache.

The word on the street is this will happen again next next year. May it grow and flourish.

Here are a few of my pictures.

Mike Hot-Pence

Miss Gay New Jersey

The largest group

Love kids riding decorated bikes

Chet and Frank