We are finally home from another Pride Festival. All the Sunday evening chores are finished and we are both sort of vegging on the sofa with cool beverages and the Sunday paper.
I truly intended to try and live blog direct from Pride, using my email blogging capabilities but things happened so quickly I could barely keep up. I posted a ton of photos from the march and the speakers stage. They are up on Facebook along with a video of the Renaissance City Choir drum corp.
The PG estimated 5,000 people attended. Organizers told me 8,000. I'm not the best at these things, but I'd probably say 3,000 is more likely. It was never crowded to the point of overwhelming. But these things are always points for debate.
The weather was lovely. The organizers improved things quite a bit … much more seating, cleaner grounds and a nicer flow of traffic. The march timing is still being refined, but it is still very nice. Most noticeable differences are the increasing contingents from communities of faith and affinity groups at local employers (Highmark, Bank of New York Mellon, Google) while some of the community group contingents are shrinking — probably as people switch. It shows that the power centers may be moving away from the gay democrats to the gay health insurance employees. Something to consider.
The festival was nice. We ran into a ton of people and had a nice time.
The big news is that Allegheny County Council will be voting on the County-wide non discrimination ordinance on Wednesday, July 1, 2009.
Our community made history by turning out a record setting crowd for the ordinance hearing back in January (more than 150 people). This is another chance to bring Allegheny County into the 21st century and you can make a difference by attending this meeting. Sign up to speak if you like. Bring a friend. More importantly, call your Councilperson between now and then to encourage them/thank them for their vote.
Discover more from Pittsburgh Lesbian Correspondents
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
