On Saturday I joined the Creative Loafing staff at their booth at St. Pete's annual Pride Festival. I was there as a photographer for their Big Gay Wedding/Honeymoon contest, but I also had time to view and photograph the crowd as well as the parade. The weather that day was everything from breezy to rainy, to our usual — hot and humid, a typical Florida day. But despite that, everyone was in good spirits. The crowd was even more diverse than I'd expected — all shapes, sizes, genders, colors (expected), families, churches (wonderful) and corporations (excellent). There were also protesters, but I guess that's part of what makes this country great, the fact that we all had the right and the freedom to be there.
This article appears in Jun 24-30, 2009.