Happy SF Pride!
July 1st, 2008San Francisco pride was amazing and I had such a wild, crazy weekend! It all started off by getting sworn it as deputy marriage commissioner at city hall so I could perform weddings on Saturday. Then I did the trans march, at Dolores Park (where Scott Silverman and I used to live) which was in its fifth year and bigger than ever! That night, I got in a big car with hot mama Theresa Sparks and all her daughters, including the gorgeous Violet Blue, Xtina, little baby Claire and a great bevy of beauties like Donna Sachet, Cecilia Chung and Carol Queen and we went to Asia SF, which is an amazing restaurant where they have a runway drag show. We ate fabulous food and I worked the runway with the girls after doing some “blow job shots,” where you suck down a shot of grey goose from between the legs of a lovely dancer. I do not like doing shots! I actually refuse to do them in most circumstances. It is like getting hit in the head with a rock! They should just have a bunch of medium size boulders at the bar to bash you with! I am still not sure about why anyone does it – I just was trying to get my head between some legs – any legs! I guess doing the shot is the price you have to pay. We all then staggered over to Diva’s, which is a haven for transgender performers and their fans, with three floors of bumping goodness that went on into the night. We worked the runway, we worked the stage, we worked the floor, I made out with Xtina. It was great fun for everyone.
Saturday I went back to city hall to perform some wedding ceremonies. That was truly amazing. I have been working toward marriage equality since 2004, and most of the emotions surrounding it have been angry. Angry that we have to fight for this right to begin with, angry at Christian conservatives who view it as a ‘threat,’ angry that politicians were using the issue to manipulate the ignorant to vote out of their own pure and unjustified fear – just angry at the whole thing. But getting to preside over these actual ceremonies – these rites of rights that were so hard won and precious and still could be taken away at any second – it was a profound and beautiful thing. I forgot my anger and all I could feel was joy and deep gratitude. When we are discriminated against in this way, they tell us our love is wrong, and in doing so, they rob us of our humanity. By legally, REALLY, joining these couples in marriage, saying the vows, exchanging rings, pronouncing them spouses for life - I was able to give some of that humanity back, and of course, we all cried through the whole thing.
Late that night I went to a bear bar called the Deco Lounge. I couldn’t pass up a party called “Bearracuda.” I also went because I was starving and if you hang with bears you know you’re gonna eat. You know they are gonna have a bread bowl with spinach artichoke dip or at least a baked brie, bitch. I was kicking back with my little crew of cubs and then these bears came up and offered me coke. What are bears gonna do with coke?! Go and hibernate really fast? Or maybe it keeps you from hibernating! “Oh girl, that bear is coked out. He hasn’t hibernated all winter!”
Sunday was the parade, which went by fast! I got to ride in a car with Grand Marshall Theresa Sparks and her wild child Violet Blue who I have a big crush on, and my makeout and dance partner from Friday, Xtina in the front. I worked the mainstage, hung with my favorite mayor Gavin Newsom, kissed on practically every trannie boy I could find. The parade and festivities felt different this year. There was something in the air. The fact that we can get married now, in California, at least for this moment, makes the stakes higher than they have ever been. We are all high off it. Happy pride to all of us, each and every one.
