New York Gov. David Paterson (left) stands with New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg at the Gay Pride Parade along in New York.(Photo by AP/Craig Ruttle)
Pride around the nation In the wake of California legalizing marriage for gay couples, marriage equality was a major theme of gay Pride celebrations held last weekend and throughout June. Here’s a sampling from U.S. cities large and small.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A lesbian motorcycle group dressed in bridal veils, wedding gowns and leather lent a matrimonial touch to San Francisco's gay pride parade on June 29 as revelers celebrated their newfound freedom to marry.
The riders tossed bouquets as they led the city's 38th annual gay pride parade down Market Street. Some of the motorcycles were adorned with signs that read “Just Married.”
Huge crowds lined the route as city tourism officials predicted the largest turnout yet for the parade, which typically draws tens of thousands.
San Francisco's 38th annual Gay Pride
parade took to the streets on Sunday,
June 29 (Photo by Tony Avelar/AP)
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom received ovations along the parade route for his role in working to overturn the state's gay marriage ban.
Though City Hall was closed Sunday, parade organizers put up a wedding pavilion across the street where couples could get information about tying the knot or celebrate newly sanctioned unions.
Wade French, 51, and his partner, Brent Lok, 54, wed in San Francisco the day after the court's decision took effect. At the parade, Lok wore a T-shirt reading “Finally married...” while French's shirt read “after 30 years together.”
“We always come to the parade, but this year is a different feeling because we're celebrating something that's personal to us,” Lok said.
The couple said they were asking friends and family not to send wedding gifts and instead make donations to a nonprofit group working to fight a ballot measure that would once again ban gay marriage in the state.
In a taped interview Sunday morning on NBC's “Meet the Press,” Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger called the measure “a waste of time.”
“I personally believe that marriage should be between a man and a woman,” Schwarzenegger said. “But at the same time I think that my, you know, belief, I don't want to force on anyone else.”
The initiative set to go before voters in November would provide that “only marriage between a man and a woman is valid or recognized in California.”
Chicago Pride parade sees attendance spike
CHICAGO (AP) — Turnout at Chicago's gay pride parade was higher than years past, as many participants wanted to celebrate California's recent decision to overturn a gay marriage ban, organizers said June 29.
Parade organizer Richard Pfeiffer estimated about 450,000 people — approximately 25,000 more than 2007 — attended the 39th annual celebration Sunday in Boystown, the city's gay district. Chicago police didn't immediately have an official crowd estimate available.
“People were excited and wanted to come out and celebrate and commemorate,” Pfeiffer said.
The theme of the march was “Live, Love, Be Proud” and organizers were pleased with turnout despite bursts of rain.
“We were really thrilled,” Pfeiffer said.
Chicago's grand marshal was Eric Alva, a gay rights advocate and ex-marine from Texas who came out in 2007. He was the first American who was injured in the Iraq war and has been a vocal opponent of the military's “Don't Ask, Don't Tell” policy.
Mass. gov. marches with daughter in Pride parade
BOSTON (AP) — Gov. Deval Patrick joined his family to march in Boston's annual gay pride parade June 14, days after a newspaper article was published in which his youngest daughter revealed she's gay.
Patrick became the first governor in the state's history to march in the parade last year. This year, he arrived late after attending a funeral for a Taunton soldier killed in Iraq and joined his family on Beacon Street, near the end of the route.
He hugged and kissed his wife Diane, daughter Sarah, and oldest daughter Katherine, who revealed she's gay in an interview published in the Bay Windows newspaper.
Katherine, 18, said she told her parents she was gay last July, a few weeks after lawmakers voted to kill a proposal that could have outlawed gay marriage in the state.
At the parade, the Patrick family was greeted with boisterous cheers and applause as they marched to the end of the route in City Hall Plaza.
“It's been a nice day,” Patrick said after the parade.
The Patricks marched with friends in front of a group from the AIDS Action Committee and behind a float carrying male dancers clad in bikini bottoms.
Thousands lined the parade route, which began in the South End and included all manner of gay Pride groups, from car clubs, to softball teams, to union workers.
Thunderstorm doesn’t deter Pride in New York City
NEW YORK (AP) — Gay residents cheered Gov. David Paterson on June 29 as he joined the city's annual gay pride march a month after he directed state agencies to provide full marriage benefits to same-sex couples who were legally married elsewhere.
“What he did ... sends a message that leadership isn't about waiting. It's about finding the opportunity. It's about finding the way to move progress and civil rights forward,” said City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the city's most powerful openly gay elected official.
Tens of thousands of gay people and their supporters marched down Manhattan's Fifth Avenue in the always colorful celebration, which is officially called the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Pride March. A violent thunderstorm halfway through did not halt the parade.
There were floats, marching bands, stilt walkers, motorcycle riders and bicycle riders wearing T-shirts that said “bike-sexual.”
“I think it's sensational,” said Dolores Stoia, who watched from behind police barricades. “I'm not really a big fan of parades, but it's very entertaining.”
Paterson, the first New York governor to march in the gay pride parade, took part even though he had surgery to remove a cataract on Saturday.
“The doctors told me I couldn't march today,” he said. “I ran 8 1/2 miles Friday. I can march today. And I will.”
Even though gay couples cannot legally marry in New York, Paterson said last month that the state must recognize marriages legally performed in other states and countries that allow gay marriage.
California began recognizing same-sex marriage this month, joining Massachusetts as the only U.S. states granting full marriage rights to gays. Besides Paterson, other elec
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