"Uninhibited" Marching Under Sunny Rainbow Pride Skies

Some 30 to 40 Unitarians from Westwood and UCE (and 100 per cent of our ministers!) turned out to cheer, wave and march in Edmonton's 30th annual Pride Parade. This year we followed the Roller Derby women, and just ahead of an NDP contingent, so you can bet the crowd was pretty noisy.

We saw lots of familiar faces in the crowd as well including prominent Gay activist Murray Billett who called out thanks for our continued support and participation.

As always, the crowd was as interesting as the paraders. The outrageous outfits and make-up was not confined to the marchers! Two standouts this year: One was a couple on the way to celebrate their marriage who came with groomsmen and bridesmaids in full wedding regalia to cheer on the parade. The other was a tiny Muslim woman with three children. She was wearing her hiqab (headscarf) but was out on the road waving and snapping photos of the parade with a smile on her face.

Later my daughters Lily and Elora enjoyed the post parade activities. Elora dunked herself in the pool at City Hall while Lily took part in painting a mural closer to Churchill Square.

But as much fun as it all was, the part that always moves me is something else. "Uninhibited" is sometimes a dirty word in our culture. Canadians are reluctant to be uninhibited about anything (except maybe hockey). We certainly don't spend a lot of time celebrating sexuality.

But for me, that is exactly what the Pride Parade is, a celebration of human sexuality in all of its splendour. Certainly it is also still a reminder of a minority in society that needs protection in the forum of human rights. But the way that reminder is given has changed over the years. Now parade marchers and watchers alike turn out dressed in various provocative ways not to shock, but to celebrate who they are. It's not the magazine model types dressed in fishnets, bustiers and low cut ball gowns (and that would be every gender I am describing). It's the everyday human beings of all orientations coming out and saying "Hey, I'm a sexual being too, and I want to celebrate everyone's orientation, and isn't that fun?" And it is.

Yup, if you never have been it might be hard to get one's head around the idea of skimpy, sexy outfits being the harbingers of good, clean prideful fun, but that's what it is.