Pride and Prejudice

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Pride and Prejudice

The book written by Jane Austen in 1813 has nothing to do with the subject of my story; I just borrowed the title.

When we recently went food shopping at Rainbow Grocery, which is usually open every day, I noticed a sign read that the store will be closed on June 26th. I inquired about the reason, and was told that they would be closed due to the Gay Pride Parade.

In Webster’s New World Dictionary the definition of the word “pride” is, “an over high opinion of oneself, exaggerated self-esteem, haughty behavior, arrogance”.  Meanwhile, the events on June 28th, 1969 created a new definition for this word.  On that day lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons (LGBT) rioted in New York, following a police raid at the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar at 43 Christopher Street. Since then, Gay Pride or LGBT Pride is celebrated in many cities and countries all over the world.  Some estimates indicate that 10% of the world population or about 700 million people are gay.  In San Francisco, the Gallup poll released on March 21, 2015, showed that San Francisco leads our nation with 6.2% of adults who identify as LGBT. San Francisco’s population is about 805,000 people, so that would be about 50,000 LGBT.  That is close to the population of Black or African American people in the city.  There are about 390,000 Caucasian people.

On Sunday morning, June 26th, it seemed that all San Francisco plus thousands of out-of-towners showed up downtown, on Market Street.  In 2015, the number of people attending the parade in San Francisco was estimated to one million plus people.  Meanwhile, on Saturday, June 25, 2016, “The Guardian” reported with the headline “Too straight, white and corporate: why some queer people are skipping SF Pride”: Disaffected by the annual parade, members of San Francisco’s LGBT community are choosing alternative events to celebrate identity and solidarity with Orlando.

I do not like to go to big gatherings, but the temptation to snap a few interesting shots took me there.  The article was right.  It was very difficult to distinguish who was who. All different kinds of people showed up to have a good time. Vendors were selling colorful decorations and hot dogs.  Corporate floats paraded with very loud music.  Police were friendly, and even dogs enjoyed the parade.  After spending a few hours there and taking over 600 photos, I took the Muni train to Castro Street.  After getting there, I realized that the big celebration there was the night before.  On the corner of 18th Street and Castro, on the side of the Bank of America, there is a memorial for the tragedy in Orlando.  Otherwise the area looked as though nothing was happening.  Enjoy and Share with a Friend.

P.S.  After I viewed all my images on my computer screen and deleted many of them, I discovered a problem.  I had much more than 4 interesting images to share with you.  My solution is to add the rest to my website, where you can view, enjoy and share.

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Cheers,

Manny<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />                                                               Signature