- Solstice opened with bodypainted nude cyclists; Pride opened with (and I believe this is the official term) dykes on bikes. Draw.
- Solstice involved a lot of nonsexual full nudity; Pride involved a lot of very sexual partial nudity. +1 Solstice.
- Solstice involved a crying baby and a screaming toddler with sunscreen in her eyes; the kids were at church while I was at Pride. +1 Pride.
- Both Solstice and Pride had belly dancers. Draw.
- Both parades had a gay marching band. Draw.
- No corporate sponsorship at Solstice; lots of corporate sponsorship at Pride. +1 Solstice.
- The only free thing I got at Solstice was a bead necklace for S-Boogie; I got handfuls of free candy, stickers, and condoms at Pride. +1 Pride.
- I worried with each free piece of candy I received at Pride that the person handing it out was an undercover agent from the God Hates Fags group down the block, out to kill us all with poison candy. -1 Pride.
- As much as I like to think of myself as an artsy hippy type, I'm not really, so I can't really say I felt much of a sense of solidarity with the people at Solstice; on the other hand, I did identify with many of the groups marching in Pride, particularly the Gay Fathers Association of Seattle and several of the other family- and religious-oriented groups. +1 Pride.
- I didn't identify so much with the floats that had hot guys in briefs freaking each other to remixed Michael Jackson songs. -1 Pride.
- Still, they were hot guys in briefs. +1 Pride.
Solstice 2
Pride 2
There you have it, folks. Tune in next year for the rematch.
I usually give the solstice parade extra points for quirkiness; there's nothing like this one.
ReplyDeleteBut, on the other hand, one enjoys a particular thrill in seeing 200,000 people line up on the sides of the street to cheer The Love That Can't Shut Up (formerly known as the "love that dare not speak its name").
I went to gay pride with BF, and it was his first time there. He loved it, so I'm going to call the match for gay pride this year because I liked seeing him so happy.
Until next year when the grudge match heats up again... go hippies, go queers!
I did my first New York Pride parade last year and had a blast. This year was too complicated with the girls with us, so we didn't go. Jed and I took them to a Family Pride picnic on Saturday, which was better anyway. Plus, we did make it to New Jersey Pride and part of Brooklyn Pride earlier in the month, so I'd say we're proud even if we didn't go to the parade.
ReplyDelete(BTW, I would give Pride the point for the sexual partial nudity over the hippie full nudity, but that's just me...of course, you did end up giving Pride the point for hot guys in briefs before the list was over, so I think you really agree with me after all.)