Pride and Protest

It's the weekend in DC, and things have gotten hot! Specifically, the weather — yesterday being high eighties and today over nineties Fahrenheit. Despite the heat, I went with my roommate to watch the DC pride parade. We walked around Dupont Circle for a bit, where I saw an Ace flag (but didn't get a picture, sadly) before settling into a good spot on the curb in the shade and waiting over an hour for the event to start. The beginning of the parade was very exciting: the gunning of motorcycles, the procession of armed forces, and the very enthusiastic crowd. However, a few cars in to the procession of notable people, the event started to stall. I later found out that a protest was blocking the start of the parade, which was unfortunately because I was hoping to see the whole thing.

My roommate left to get food, while I decided to walk down the block to see if I could see more of the parade. The crowd was extremely dense — at certain points I was legitimately worried about getting trampled, being the single small human being that I am — but I managed to squeeze in a few blocks down at a bend in the parade route. A deflated bear inflatable and a few floats of drag queens drifted by. Parade marchers tossed beads into the crowd, and I managed to snag a purple strand that now hangs festively on my lamp. As much as I wanted to stay, the spot I was in was much too sunny, and the imminent fear of sunburn forced me to retreat back to my dorm. Nevertheless, it was a fun experience, and hopefully next year I'll be able to see more! ◊