Despite having now lived in Portland for 7 years, I had never actually attended the Pride parade. After last weekend's horrific events I felt really motivated to go, despite a lingering hangover from the previous night's entertainment (Scandals block party followed by Club Destiny @ White Owl Social Club). The parade was amazing. The feeling of being surrounded by tens of thousands of people, all of whom were gay, lesbian, bi, transgender or straight allies, was just incredible. I only wish I could go back in time and let my 14 year old self what it felt like.
Anyway, I thought some of you might enjoy seeing these photos.
Lots and lots of large employers in the parade, including Alaska Airlines, Nike, Intel, OHSU, Kaiser, Airbnb, Comcast, Fred Meyer, New Seasons and T-Mobile:
Daimler Trucks North America had the most masc float though:
Aside from participating in the parade, TriMet did a great job of controlling a parade that crossed the MAX tracks multiple times.
Lots of local politicians, including lesbian Speaker of the Oregon House Tina Kotek and gay candidate for the Multnomah County Commission Eric Zimmerman. My favorite of these photos is probably the one where Earl Blumeneaur is walking behind a furry.
In an OMFG moment, a rainbow colored cloud appeared in the sky:
Lots of things were just fabulous:
And, of course, scantily clad men:
A really heartening turnout from the faith community (not pictured—the Mennonite man wearing a t-shirt that said "Hummusexual"):
Timbers Army:
Threaded Mode