valarltd | Chez Mudd goes to Gay Pride

I delivered my first two stops so I could have the afternoon off.
As there was no yellow dye to be had in West Memphis, we settled for being a Lavender Menace instead.
Five tie-dyed t-shirts, a reloaded purse and a case of soda later, Chez Mudd was ready by 2;45. Only to find we were out of gas.

Without Mudd himself.
He'd gone in at noon to set up and staff the PFLAG booth.

We dropped Bun at First Congregationalist Church to line up, and haded for the park.
Until 4, I passed out matchbooks and Torquere Press rainbow condoms. The purple were VERY popular.

Then it was time for the parade.
We got a really good spot down by where Cooper goes under the railroad.

The Color Guard. US flag, Tennessee Flag, Memphis City Flag.
Don't ever let anyone tell you Gay Pride (at least in Memphis) is unpatriotic. We had vets just back from Iraq marching in it.

No Dykes on Bykes, alas. Must get a motorcycle and license, get with Breck and organize one.

The 100' long rainbow flag always follows the colors.
The large dark-clad boy at the front is Trevor, a scary looking sweetie. His boyfriend is right beside him.
Not only do they "go to our church" in gay parlance, they are also part of Summerland Grove.

There were all sorts of groups: gay square-dancers, several local welcoming churches, PFLAG (sans Mudd, still at the booth), Friends For Life (a local charity helping keep those living with AIDS independent), our local leathermen the Blue Suede Bears (wearing jeans under their chaps). Several drag queens, the Mystic Krewe of Pegasus, a man on a pennyfarthing bicycle, and Backstreet (and their bubble machine) rounded it out.

The Cow Patties, a terror-drag group of bathing beauties(?), took Best Rolling Unit.

MAGY, Memphis Area Gay Youth, took the big trophy...again. Best Use of Theme.
Bun is in there somewhere, holding a Greek flag.

Mudd chatting with Peterson Toscano, the grand marshal.
Peterson's blog is http://a_musing.blogspot.com

The Memphis Commercial Appeal has an article about the parade today.

After the parade, we got in line for snow cones. I complemented a couple of the leathermen on their tattoos (one had a really excellent Kali) and look. They gave me a condescending look like "A woman? Daring to speak to us? Run along, fag hag." We got the snow cones, and all three kids picked rainbow.

They ate, we wandered.
I gave away over 50 matchbooks and about 2 dozen condoms (not counting the purple one Bun nicked as she stuffed them in my purse)

I also met the wonderful Miss Allysun Wunderland. She interviewed me for her video channel when she found out I wrote GLBT romance novels.

We stayed until about 6 and packed it up.
Dinner at Wendy's, where I watched my poor pale Saxon tribe turn red, DESPITE 45 proof sunscreen.
Mudd and Bun are all over freckles. Jonner and Dollface faded to tan. Poor Obi is peeling.
Next year, rainbow sunhats as well.

All in all, a good time, and well worth running today.