Gay Pride Day in Portlandia!!

Hey roomies! Just have to tell y'all, we moved near Portland Oregon a few years back, (my hubby and I live with our eldest son and his wife and children), and our son Tom took a new job with a major health provider up here. For reasons that are still unclear to me, Tom was elected to head up their committee for the gay and transgender employees. So today being Gay Pride Day in Portland, Tom had to be there, as he organized the companies participation in the days events this year. What a great time! The best "scotch movies" I have EVER seen! (For those of you who are unfamiliar, "Scotch movies" is just an old fashioned expression meaning people watching) What a great day it turned out to be. If you are unfamiliar with Portland, their city's motto is "Keep Portland Weird"(!!!) and man, they do a damned fine job of it! I tell people we live in Portlandia, cause truly, Portland IS very much like the Portlandia you see on the tv show! Today's activities was just more proof of the truth of that! What an unusual day! I cannot even begin to describe it, the closest I can come is to say that if you are old enough to have lived through the 70's, and you remember the "summer of love," then you can guess what this day in Portlandia was like! It was so reminiscent of the summer of love that I felt as though I had stepped back in time. The best part of the day in my opinion was the fact that there were thousands of people there, and not one drunk and disorderly incident, everyone was just intent on partying and having a great time and that is exactly what went down. I know for sure that I will be there next year, I wouldn't miss it for the world! It was just soooo Portlandia!! If any of you have the opportunity to be here in Portland for the gay pride day parade, I highly recommend it! You can be as straight as my family is, it won't matter, as long as you are tolerant of alternative life styles, I guarantee a great time will be had by all! Dudes in nothing but chaps, some of the most beautiful women I have ever seen, who almost all turned out to be men dressed in drag, oh yea, the "Scotch Movies" were the best ever! I used to live near Foxwoods, and as I love scotch movies more than just about any other pass time, I hardly ever missed a Saturday night at Foxwoods! Well, they cannot hold a candle to Portlandia!! This was my first Gay Pride Parade, even though I lived in Providence R.I. for years, (they have the largest most famous gay community and parade each year)and even though I have many gay and transgender friends and acquaintances, it's just not something that I ever thought I would enjoy. I could not have been further from wrong! It was my first, but it surely will not be the last! So many things to see that you never dreamed you would ever see, never even imagined existed! If you are a heterosexual like me, you just have to take in a Gay Pride Parade! It is definitely an eye opener, and in more ways than ten!! Great music, great people, lots of tolerance, which goes a long long way with me, it was just a fine way to spend a Sunday afternoon! Any one who is familiar with Portlandia knows these people know how to party down, but I had no idea how well the gay and transgender community also know how to have a great time, today was such an experience! Highly recommended to any one who is curious about other peoples lives, curious about lives that are vastly different from one's own, and any one who loves people! Good times, my friends, definitely good times!!        <3  

It sounds like a wonderful day.  Thanks for sharing.

It sounded like it was a wonderful day. I think we all need more stories like that. Most people are filled with rage and hate nowadays that they forget to have a good time and enjoy life, which is too short anyway.

You are so right Markotik! I am so tired of the haters stomping their way into our lives, it's not just depressing, it is pathetic. The Gay Pride Parade was definitely the most fun I have had since moving to Portlandia, and I have been having a ball living here! The people were just wonderful, the music was inspired, and the weather was so good to us! Truly a fun time was had by all! Thanks for your kind words
and Thank-you also blueday, it was a terrific party!

A fellow Portlandian! A pleasure to meet you!

Thank you for sharing, in my country on the first Sunday of this month of June also happened the day of the Gay Pride is an event in the state capital that brings together thousands of people with very colorful, music and march, it really is very fun to watch, I see the tv and internet all movement.

This was a very positive post irishgilly, thanks for sharing this! Portland is one of those places me and my partner in crime really want to visit, we are a fan of the show and overall, Portland seems like a very extraordinary place and we think it would suit us! And for the Gay pride- I am all about tolerance and love, no matter who you love. The more tolerance the more happy people. Have a great day!

Well barebones I have to tell you that if you think you would love Portland, you are right! You and your partner in crime should come on up here and maybe share a cell together,lol!!! That is what best friends do after all, they don;t bail you out cause they are locked in with you!! Portland really is a unique and interesting place! They held the naked bike ride this past week-end, that is one I definitely stay away from! From the looks of it they had a great time, this years ride took place at night, something I would have highly recommended had I been consulted by the planning committee!! 

Souns really awesome irishgilly Well I know for sure that some day we will visit Portland and do the crazy stfuu that is done on the Portlandia show I know that in my country there's also a naked bike ride, once a year I think, but I wouldn't want to be close there.. It's not that great of a scene.

When do we get a heterosexual parade? 

lol Gabby! Well, I think we cornered the market on heterosexual parades way back on the day of the first parade ever paraded...

Good for you! So happy to see more people open to diversity . I have always felt so sad for LBGT people that had family that shunned them.

MissyMoo and Barebones,
Thanks for your thoughts. I feel the same way as both of you. Some of our best friends are gay or transgender. It has to be incredibly difficult, especially for a child, and when the family is too ignorant to support them, how heartbreaking, it can only make things that much more difficult for the kids. I have never understood people who have the temerity to judge others, particularly when they profess to love them, and most especially when they are family members. I know exactly what that feels like, I am disabled due to fibromyalgia, among several other things. I have several sisters, and one, who is the only college grad in the family, is sickeningly wealthy because her husband is a genius, she has had one job in her entire life, and according to her, I am "playing the system, could hold down a job if I really wanted to...etc". So I am the black sheep of the family because of my situation. (Before he died, my only bro, who was a schizophrenic, was the black sheep because of his illness, if you can believe that!)  When I ask my family members why any one who is smart enough to fool six neurologists in two states would choose to live below the poverty level just to "beat the system" they never have an answer. What morons!! Oh well, it's a common tale, but it does make me more aware of people who are judged because they are considered "different". It's a truly sad situation. I do subscribe to the thought that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, because I have had to learn to do so in order to live with my moronic family. Maybe that is the reason why I have a moronic family...perhaps in my last life I was a judgmental moron myself! One can always count on Karma!! 

i stumbled upon this thread for few times and i always feel the need to reply. not against sexual preference nor the parade, but on contradictions, naive principles and wrong (manufactured) ways to look around. should I? wish i was skilled enough with english to maintain a discussion in a certain corner and accurately give in write the meaning i think to. so with this written, OP, are you open for my opinion? 

We are always open to comments from our roomies! I admit I am a tad confused by your comment, so if you want to clarify that would be great!