My First Gay Pride, Dallas 2007

I finally did it. 

I attended a Gay Pride Festival and Parade. 

From the first time I ever spoke with another person about what it meant to be gay, I vowed never to attend one.  I mean, in the past, the parade and festivities didn't seem like a celebration to me, but more like debauchery in the streets . . . a drug-filled cess pool of disease-ridden old men and twinks. 

Certainly, it had to be an event that I'd abhor, much less fit in.

Now, as I sit here writing these words, they seem so harsh to me.

But until a little over a year ago, that was my closed-minded opinion about the Pride celebration.

This year, however, I've become a lot more comfortable with my sexuality and with understanding the gay culture.

I figured that it was finally time to see if I was wrong about Pride. 

Here is how it all went down. 

First off, this guy named Ryan had been asking me out for weeks.  He was cute, but I didn't think the chemistry was there, so I wasn't particularly excited about going out with him. 

However, one of my friends told me that he was extremely well-endowed, and although I may sound like a complete hooker, I have to be honest:  I was curious to see if the rumors were true.

Consequently, I set up a Sunday lunch date with him.

The Sunday date coincided with the Pride parade, so Ryan and I decided to grab lunch at a restaurant and then walk over to the crowds. 

He showed up at my condo at around 12 noon, and, in our shorts and sandals, we walked three blocks in the sweltering heat towards a pick-up-and-go restaurant near the festivities.  The food was great, the weather was bad (hot), and the conversation was average. 

But Ryan, a 6'1 athlete with beautiful brown eyes, made up for the lack of good conversation with his cute smile and nice biceps. 

Even though it was early in the date, I knew that from a dating perspective, Ryan and I wouldn't last very long.  But I persevered, intending to make the date a good one, and glad to have a cute guy on my arm for the duration of the Pride festival.

After lunch, Ryan and I marched towards the Strip, which was partitioned off for the parade by colorful barriers and rotund police officers. 

Amidst our journey to the crowds, my crazy friend Heather text messaged me to let me know that she and a friend wanted to meet me at the parade.

I was thankful for that.

We eventually turned a corner. 

That was when I saw the crowds.

Massive amounts of gay men. 

Some in drag, some half naked, practically everyone with their shirts off.  One guy was on stilts. 

A woman in a dominatrix outfit had a 300 lb man-slave, who was wearing a leather speedo, black leather suspenders, a blindfold, a leash, and nothing else. 

He wasn't allowed to speak unless she told him so. 

Those were some of the more shocking sights. 

Otherwise, I saw families (both straight and gay), young gay couples holding hands, elderly folks in lawn chairs with umbrellas, groups of straight girls, and pleasant gay and lesbian singles who lined the streets cheering on the decorative floats and pedestrian walkers and grabbing for flying candy and trinkets. 

At times, I was at little shocked. 

But for the most part, the parade was a festival for people to express themselves.  It wasn't really political or sinful in nature - it was simply fun and a little crazy.

If nothing else, it was fanatically entertaining. 

More than anything, I remember how hot it was that day.

Ryan and I were roasting. 

We walked into a seedy little bar, one of the only ones on the Strip that wasn't crowded.  The bar was heavily-air-conditioned, and we were in heaven. 

I bought us two beers and sat in a booth near an older man with a beautiful golden retriever that was sprawled out on the wooden floor.

The bar owner had rigged a ghetto b&w camera on the roof to provide its patrons with live coverage of the parade.  Although the television was as small as my lap top screen, I appreciated the effort. 

I don't know what provoked it, but at some point, Ryan and I kissed. 

Maybe it was the lack of hydration.  Maybe it was the sensual nature of the whole day.  I don't know.  But whatever it was, we kissed each other several times in the dark bar. 

The oddest thing happened when we stopped kissing.  After I pulled away from him, I looked down at the dog, who was sprawled out about ten feet from our booth. 

At some point, the dog had woken up and raised it's head.  It was staring right at me, and to my complete surprise, it seemed to giving me a knowing smile. 

Cute, but the oddity of the situation weirded me out a bit. 

Heather, who was trying to figure out where on the Strip I was planted, had texted me 4-5 times during my PDA kissing escapade. 

I replied, telling her that Ryan and I were hitting the oven-like streets once again, and would make our way towards her. 

We finally worked our way through the crowds to meet Heather at a Latin bar called Havana, which was conveniently located at the exact center of the parade route.  She looked hot in a short skirt and tank top, and I told her that her voluptuous body was being wasted on all of us gay boys. 

But like my friend Brian, Heather loves hot Latin guys, even gay ones, and she was in Heaven at Havana.

Although Ryan wasn't Hispanic, he had dark features, and after polishing off her margarita, Heather gave me two thumbs up. 

I shrugged, but gave her an encouraging smile.

Time went on, the parade continued, and I had a few more drinks, switching from beer to frozen girly concoctions. 

But eventually, I realized I had to wrap things up. 

I was flying out to Mississippi that night for a Monday morning hearing in a small town, and I wanted a little bit of "alone time" with Ryan before I left. 

So . . . after saying goodbye to Heather, Ryan and I made our way back to my place. 

The combination of the narrow sidewalks and tight crowds caused Ryan and I to bump into each other, which, consequently, stimulated our sexual tension and arousal.

Earlier that morning, I'd made the mistake of donning loose linen shorts and boxers, so it was nearly impossible to hide my arousal.  On several occasions after Ryan and I had stopped to kiss on one corner or the next, I had to pull away and visually picture Rosy O'Donnell naked in my mind.

This is usually a sure-fire method to help me lose a hard-on, but I had only marginal success this day. 

Ryan, who'd worn cargo shorts and boxer briefs, didn't have this problem, and he found my situation hilarious. 

By the time we got back to my condo, Ryan and I were ready to rip each other's clothes off. 

It was 3:00 p.m., and I had to be at the airport at 5:00 p.m., so we didn't have much time for foreplay.  And besides, if you think about it, the entire date had been one big episode of foreplay.

We kissed for at least 20 minutes . . . and then, well . . . I'm sure you can figure that out.

Let's just say that I succeeded in my mission as an investigative journalist to find out if the rumors about Ryan's endowment were true. 

Ryan is now a distant memory, but my experience at Pride 2007, even putting the "happy ending" aside, remains burned into my mind. 

Pride is a good thing for the gay community, and I recommend that anyone, gay or straight, check it out at least once.

Comments

despite the fact that this is, more about your sexcapades with 'Ryan' and less about the parade i still enjoyed it haha

[Justin]

I also attended a Pride event for the first time this year,and I was pleasantly surprised by what I saw. Although most people tend to focus on the more outrageous aspects inherit in such a display of homosexuality, what I took away from it was how diverse, and also how normal the gay community really is. Oh, and it was a hell of a good time!

Glad you enjoyed your first event.

[Synrgy]

I love me some Heather... Ok, got that out of the way... Urban... What a great memory... It's cool that you were able to take the positive aspects of gay pride (and Ryan) home with you... Happy Pride ;)
I want to hear about LA...

[Jay]

My first gay pride was NYC back in 2006. It was amazing and exciting but I did stay away from the clubbing/bar aspect and just watched the parade and took a few snapshots.

It really is something to be experienced because it truly showcases all aspects of the community.

[Shawn]

So happy that you took the plunge. And even more pleased that you saw what is, to me, the most important aspect of Pride events: the way they showcase the HUGE range of gay people...men, women, families, people who would never set foot in a bar, etc. Now, one of these years you have to make it to the Big Mama of all Pride parades, NYC.

[ali]

hey..
you didn't actually confirm whether it was a rumor or not.

and i needa know!
;)

[JP]

My first Pride was this past summer. I had a great time... just wished I didn't have to go to work that night. Working nights really hurt the celebration.

Yeh, I agree, we never did find out about Ryan's, ahem, endowment. Can I borrow Ryan for a day?
Nice blog, I'll keep reading.
--Speedy