Freedom and the SF Gay Pride Parade

Picture: Crowds gather ten people deep all along Market Street in downtown San Francisco to watch the annual Gay Pride Parade; San Francisco, California

It seems odd to me that I’m posting this image today. It was only six days ago that I was celebrating a belated wedding anniversary with my wife in San Francisco. After spending a great night in the city, we awoke to the rumble of Dykes on Bikes, heralding the start of the annual Gay Pride Parade down Market Street. I hadn’t even known about the parade until the day before we left, when I heard a news report saying to be aware of the crowds on Market Street on Sunday. Huh? What? Oh, wait; this will be a perfect opportunity to photograph this for my upcoming book on California’s history.

I don’t use this blog to promote any political positions, and I’m not going to lay out my personal feelings here. I leave others to make up their own minds. However, there is such a stark contrast between today being the 4th of July, where the words of the day are Freedom and Independence, when less than a week ago, I was watching crowds of people shouting, demanding, and pleading for the freedom to be treated as equals with respect to the issue of Gay Marriage. How is that freedom compared to the lines of protestors that demanded the freedom, equality, and rights of women to vote, to end segregation, and to uphold the root words of our Founding Fathers, that all men (& women) are created equal?

Happy Fourth of July.

PS: And speaking of Marriage, I’d like to thank my wife of 19 years, (we’ve been together for 26) for all of her compassion, understanding, and support; especially on an anniversary getaway weekend when I had to say, “Honey, I need to go to work now.”