Vancouver Pride 2006!

This is was our third Pride, and the first with friends AJ and Lisa.

All photos are AJs...

The unfortunate thing is that I don't yet have pics from my favourite part of the Parade, the opening roar of engines and pagentry from the Dykes and Bikes.

Sadly, AJ was off in search of suntan lotion, or a blanket, or a sandwich, or on a sword quest for his demon mistress, or some such thing at thie time.

Anyway, here we go...

The Tories!


It was actually kind of a sad contingent really. But I admired that they made the effort. If I recall in years past the Tories/Alliance didn't always field a presence. Worth noting that both the Liberals in Heddy Fry, and the NDP with Jack Layton himself, showed up in numbers.

Heddy Fry wore something that on any other day would have been worthy of ridicule, but on this occasion, she gets a pass. How can you fault anyone for what they wear (or don't) at Pride?

And then to my delight, the worst fears of the Free Dominion crowd were realized...















Shortly afterwards we were treated to some ole fashion Cornhusking! Ahh. I miss the prairies.




















One of the floats we all liked and that was quite popular with the crowd in general was this fella...




















On his back was written 'I Heart my Gay Dad', and he was with 'PFLAG' (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, though I should fact check that)

We all dug the kilt (even our Irish contingent gave it a pass), though it must have been unimaginably hot to rollerblade in.

Random Hottie















A Moped riding S+M clown. Sweet. All I could think of was the line from 'The Devil's Rejects', "Laugh clown, Laugh! Unfortunately, it was neither appropriate nor particularily funny.

I'm leaving it in anyway.

Two minutes later, we were treated to some political commentary...















Yup, it's the priviledged white lesbians for a totalitarian Cuba. At least, I think that's what the sign says.

AJ found this part of the parade so interesting he was distracted by a wicked Chinese junk taking sail in the bay...















One of the biggest comedy moments for us came when the Vancouver S+M Society drove their float by...















I suggested to AJ that you can't see the other 7 members because they are locked in the trunk.

Seriously though, L-A-M-E float. I hope they do better next year.















'The sisters of perpetual indulgence' - AJ was impressed enough by their rigorous theology to give religion another try. I figured the catechism would be too much for me.


















The 'Brokeback Harper/Bush' Float.

Maybe it's just me, but I was hoping for something a bit less cliche' than the recycling of Brokeback as a slur. There was someone with a sign of Bush that said 'Queer Eye on the Stupid Guy' which was at least clever, but I found myself hoping for more wit than the Brokeback float delivered.

This one though, was by far my favourite....















Librarians! Whoo Hoo! What could be sexier?

Another big chuckle we had (once I returned from my slightly dazed and confused state after the librarians passed) was with a guy who was giving away free razors for Schick or Bic, or whoever. As he started to pass out the goodies he was mobbed. I turned to AJ and said,

'Great strategy, he really knows his market. Afterall, there are clearly a lot of women here who NEED razors'.
















Not everything was glamour and fabulousness mixed with crass commericialism and the occasional moonbat politics. But at least the guy was making the effort, and at Pride that counts for everything.





















'Insert joke here' - This float had the four of us in hysterics. I can't say exactly why, but we had been drinking fairly steadily, and for whatever reason, it struck our collective funny-bone like an Antonio Carver left hook.





















Among the favourite floats we saw, was this one. Very low budget, but enchanting.
















This float was our winner for 'Most anatomically correct'. Is it any coincidence that many of the hottest chicks were trailing this float like kids following an ice-cream truck?
















Among the guest celebrities, Flava Flav made an appearance!




















Random Hottie #2















After teasing us with her wicked dance moves and Betty Grable gams, she announced with a cheerful smile we could see her take it all off at a local strip club that evening. Sadly, I was unable to convince my compatriots that seeing her naked was worth the effort of going to the club.




















The most annoying Pride participant award goes to the Candy-man above. It wasn't that he was buck naked except for some very sweaty candy decorating his bits (there were many participants wearing less, and less creatively), it was that he insisted on not deviating from his space in the parade. We were treated to his prancing ALL DAY LONG as he weaved in and out of the floats as they went past him. Like I said, annoying. If he'd only just moved along, instead of constantly flitting in and out of our field of vision, we would have been fine.


The after march - where a sea of humanity extending as far as the eye can see, makes its way over to the beer gardens, bars, restaurants, and clubs of Vancouver. Sun drenched, liqoured up and treated to the marvelous spectacle that is Pride in Vancouver, everyone had a smile on their face.

Another smashing success!

Happy Pride Everyone!