Posted on 06/29/2003 3:16:13 AM PDT by weegee
By ROBERT CROWE Copyright 2003 Houston Chronicle From exotic drag queens strutting their stuff to colorful floats sporting gay and lesbian activists, the Houston Pride Parade on Saturday night attracted a large, festive crowd.
While just as flamboyant as it has been during its previous 24 years, the atmosphere was charged by the U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling that overturned Texas' sodomy law.
"This is overwhelming and still seems a little unreal after all these years -- more than three decades of struggle -- that we're finally free in Texas and free all over the country," said Lee Harrington.
A self-described old-timer in the gay activist community, Harrington had served as president of the Gay Political Caucus in the early 1980s.
The Houston Pride Parade, one of the largest in the country, has been bumping like a funky disco song along Westheimer in the heart of Montrose for 25 years now.
As many as 150,000 spectators -- ranging from the expected gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people to straight folk with their families and children -- turned out for the parade, which marks the 34th anniversary of a New York City bar riot that sparked the modern gay rights movement.
Saturday was Jason Mayo's first pride parade in Houston. Mayo, 31, had attended such parades in San Francisco for eight years, prior to moving to Houston last August.
"This means more in Houston -- in the heartland so to speak -- because in San Francisco it was more like preaching to the choir," he said.
Ken Harrig, 43, liked the fact that the Westheimer Street Festival crowd, which had gathered in the area throughout the day, helped diversify the parade audience. "It's great; I totally support the festival being here," he said.
"We're getting closer and closer to gay liberation," said Angela Flores, 23, a spectator. "I just want to be able to come out at work and not be worried about it."
Flores and several friends were enjoying cold drinks and the festive atmosphere.
A group of three young men said they had talked about the Supreme Court's decision before the parade. One man admired the fact that two men from Houston were willing to make sacrifices to help change the law.
Still, he said he did not want his name used because "people at work" did not know his sexual orientation.
The Supreme Court's 6-3 decision on Thursday overturning Texas' Homosexual Conduct Law as unconstitutional was made regarding a 1998 case involving two Houston-area men. Tyron Garner and John Lawrence, charged with violating the law, were arrested by police who entered their home.
Garner and Lawrence were expected to participate in the parade.
Activist Jack Valinski, chairman of the 25th annual Pride Parade, said about 100 people organized the parade. Another 1,000 participated by making floats, marching and throwing beads to the crowd. About 125 floats glided along the parade route.
A special float this year honored past grand marshals of the parade.
Although Saturday was a day to party, Valinski said, there still is much to be done in the struggle for rights for gays and lesbians.
"We celebrate tonight, and by Monday we need to get back to the social justice issues," he said.
While the gay community has been empowered and liberated by the Supreme Court decision, Valinski said, some people might be offended if it pushes for more rights.
But that won't stop him and others, he said.
While the event has been center stage in Montrose on Pride Day, this year's parade had to share some of its limelight with the Westheimer Street Festival.
The street festival's promoters moved the event back to Westheimer on Saturday after attendance figures at the Allen Parkway location began to dwindle.
Valinski said there were no incidents he was aware of between the crowds at the two events.
"As far as I know, everything is going fine," he said before the parade.
Without permission from Montrose neighborhood associations, the street festival took place on business parking lots and not in the street.
They have penetrated my brain. The gays have won.
This is the embodiment of the homosexual movement in Houston (and the parade was the lead article in the online Houston Chronicle).
The articles were writtem by defenders of the homosexual movement, not detractors. That kind of press is far more graphic than the critics would have been.
ROFL!!!
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