Pride Number Five

Yesterday was the fifth Lexington Pride festival and probably the hottest in its history. Despite the oven-like temperatures, people from all across the tri-state area celebrated the GLBTQ community.

I've been to the Lexington Pride festival every year since 2008. The first year was very monumental for me. I had come out January of that year and just 6 months later I was walking through Cheapside letting my gay pride show to all of Lexington.

Pan the rainbow crowd

It was quite an experience to say the least. I went with my friend Robeij who had also recently come out. Together, we took some huge steps in maturing and developing as gay youth.

Wet homosexuals

Looking back, I can see how far I have come, how I started to realize that my identity as a person could never be summed up in one word, how I deserved more than what I settled for, how putting your happiness first isn't always selfish, and how powerful it is when people unite together for a common cause.

Dance like nobody's watching

The above picture is from Lex Pride 2009. I love this picture, because I remember this as a moment of hope for me. Many of us, especially in the gay community, face such adversity in our relationships. Those of us who are "out" still live in fear of persecution, religious altercation, and societal judgement in general. Seeing these two women dance and show their lasting love for each other was beyond amazing.

After Pride 2009, the location moved to the courthouse due to growth! In a very short amount of time, this festival had some extreme growing pains and needed room. The 2010 Lex Pride also started having local and national sponsors.

We knew him and C3PO were close but not that close!

As I was looking through all my facebook albums for pictures, I noticed that I always caption it with "hot". I suppose Pride being a hot, homorific day is not all that new.

I'm not sure if the leotard is scarier or the hand that is coming to get me

The outfits at Pride (any year) are always a hoot. This particular fella from Pride 2011 was great. From the frontview, nothing was left to the imagination. I'm pretty sure I could have told you what his kids would look like. 

Pride 2011 was an extra special year, because it was the first Pride that Emily and I went to as a couple. This is not to say I haven't gone to Pride with a girlfriend before, but, for me, going with Emily was great in that she got to see that it is possible to create a world where we can hold hands. We don't have to hide behind closed doors or around close friends. 

<3

So that brings us to Lexington Pride 2012. This was a great year in and of itself. We got to see so many people that we love. And, to me, I saw so many more gay parents this year with their children. It was heartwarming and hopeful. We signed the rainbow truck, had some beer, watching some drag shows, talked with friends, rain through a fountain, drank our weight in water, ate great food, and loved every minute and every one of it. 

LeeBroSto made it on the truck

Twenty-Six Going on Eighty

In some ways, I feel that at any moment I'm going to purchase some tennis balls and canes. It seems that upon turning twenty-six an impending sense of "old" has crept into my life like no other moment. My girlfriend keeps me young (giggity), but here are my top five reasons for feeling like a geezer on this side of twenty-five.

#5 My Bedtime

At 7:30, I take these glasses off, big boy

I was talking to the girlfriend the other night, and I sort of freaked her out. In an outburst of excitement I said, "Hey , babe! How about we snuggle down at 9:30 and read for a bit. Sounds fun?" After calming her down, I ensured her that I wasn't using bengay (despite my minty smell) and hadn't yet purchased any tennis balls. In my defense, I work...a lot and hard. It is very hard for me to party all night and still get up for work. *sigh*

#4 What excites me...

This is a very naught, naughty book. The hold hands on page 5.

There was a time when I found myself at parties with drinks, glow sticks, black lights, wads of cash, scantly clad women, and *ahem* *cough* *cough*. Now, it seems that the part of my brain that gets excited has truly dulled. As an English person I do not begrudge myself the fact of loving a good book; however, I have done a bit of couponing. I think the low point for me was the palpitations of my heart after seeing a "buy one get one free" sign. *sigh*

#3 Using the Word "Whippersnapper"

In my day, we had to text using only a number pad none of the qwerty keyboard shit

Now, I do not believe that I am an ageist, but I do find myself looking at those younger than me and realizing their naivety and wondering if I ever looked so....dumfounded for lack of a better word. I suppose it is just that I now see how I once looked: ambitious, dreamy, hopeful...and relatively idiotic. *chuckle* *sigh*

#2 Connoisseur not Drinker

One more of these and someone's going to be in my lap....for a story!

I completely believe that drunken nights on cheap Vodka and Everclear are a right of passage for college. I mean, we even came up with hooch, a drink of mixed shit with high alcohol content. "It's not about the taste!"  We yell with solo cups in hand. "It's about the party!" As I shimmy into my evening slippers, I search through my bottles of high-end, foreign and domestic beers, seeing what I would like to try. I yell from the kitchen, "Well, dear, let's try this beer. It has a low percent, but it seems to have lemon zest in it. How fetching!" There would be a cigar in this scene, but when you date a nurse, cigars are always missing from scenes such as these.

#1 The R Word

Uncle Sam had a sex change, but he still wants you

Responsibility. I'll give you a moment to stop cringing upon reading this word.....chilling, isn't it? There was a time when we all threw up our middle fingers and told the Man to do his own bidding. We listened to Mr. Dylan and the Beatles on our recently purchased record players, smoking toasts to free love and peace. Well, perhaps not that far, but we have all wanted to shank that bitch Responsibility. This R word is what makes us get early in the morning, go into massive amounts of loan debt, and decide not to go to Frankie's end of the semester party the night before our big final. However, the R word does not seem so bad to me now. It's sort of like someone who used to not be your friend, but now is. It's still kind of awkward, but you don't mind them visiting and chatting for a few minutes. *face palm*