Parading Around

 It's June! Which means that besides school almost being out, it's also PRIDE month! In May, I posted some PRIDE events going on locally. I attended the PRIDE flag raising in Glen Rock on June 1. This was the second annual flag raising and we had a decent showing for a really gross weather day. It was super hot and muggy but we still managed to eek out something like one hundred and fifty people. Maybe more. I tried to do a quick count, but it wasn't easy. For a noon time on a Friday, obviously during the work day, I think that was pretty good. I saw people later who said they forgot and were bummed to have missed it, so maybe next year!

Glen Rock Pride Flag Raising- June 1, 2018

GR Mayor & some of the council members

This past Sunday was NJ Pride in Asbury Park. They have a parade and a festival with booths, food and music. We have gone as a family the two years prior and went down again this year. The weather is never great for it, but it's still always a fun day. This time though- we were IN the parade!

My friend Monica is the manager at Petsmart in West Long Branch. Her store was marching and she asked if E wanted to hold the banner or throw stuff out to the crowd. It took him about a half a second to answer a resounding "YES!". E was made to be in a parade. Especially one with dance music and flying candy.

I wasn't sure if just E was going to be in it or what. Next thing I know, all three of us were the head of the Petsmart crew holding their banner, walking in the parade. We were behind a pick up truck with two dancing half-dressed guys whipping candy and sunglasses at the crowd. They had music though so E danced right along with (behind) them.

The end of the parade route is where the most people are, so you're like a rockstar by the time you get there. At this point, E had two small rainbow flags, one in each hand, and was dancing up a storm to Can't Stop The Feeling by Justin Timberlake.

The sky was on the verge of opening the whole parade, but it seemed okay once we got into the festival. My cousin, her husband and their four month old baby met us there too. We barely got to hang with them because the sky did open and we were poured on. We ran to the convention hall on the boardwalk but by then we were drenched and freezing. It was time to call it a day.

We accomplished what we came down there for though! E got to be in the parade. So thanks to Monica and her employees at Petsmart in West Long Branch for letting us be part of their group. E already asked if he can do it again next year.

I just wanted to address a few things. First, none of us are LGBTQ. Not me, B or E. I'm saying this not because I need to distance myself from the LGBTQ community, but to shed light on something I would've thought would be common sense. You don't need to BE something to support or advocate. I don't need to be black to understand the concept behind "Black Lives Matter" and support. As a family, we've decided to support the LGBTQ community with our actions, without having to be gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, etc.

We went to a transgender rights rally in Jersey City a year or so ago. I had posted pictures on Facebook of us while we were there. Someone said- "Oh, I didn't know your son was transgender". I said- "He's not". It was just so beyond the realm of understanding that we could just be there in support, as allies.

Someone else asked me yesterday, "Why gay rights? Why did you pick this to be an advocate for". The simple answer, besides it being the most fun of all causes to support, is that I'm just not okay with people being discriminated against for who they were born to be. As a Jewish person, I know what it's like to be hated just because I happen to be born a Jew. Jews have historically always been persecuted due to other people's religious beliefs. Well....so has the LGBTQ community. So there are a few parallels there.

Further- while the Bible may prohibit certain sexual behaviors (from what I've been told- I don't know what's in the Bible), it's not like straight people who claim to be so religious are all refraining from participating in said sexual behaviors. Or other sins, for that matter. It's the whole hypocritical thing I'm really against also. You have zealots screaming about this or that being against what the Bible teaches, but unless they're living the exact letter of the Bible themselves, their points aren't even valid. I'm super triggered by anyone trying to put their religious beliefs on others, for any reason.

Of course, there is the superficial fun aspect. How do you even watch another kind of parade after watching or participating in a PRIDE parade?? The music, the costumes, the dancing! What's not to love? And everyone is celebrating LOVE. As in, Love Wins. You're surrounded by people fighting for equality just to be able to live like anyone else. To be able to exist amongst the rest of humanity without fear of being ridiculed, attacked and/or discriminated against. I think that's a damn good cause to get behind. It sure beats fighting for the first world problem to get organic treats in our elementary school!

I also like that this encompasses so many different kind of people. It's not just about one gender, one race, one color. It's a huge mix of different kinds of people. We feel like our child needs to be exposed to that. The same way he's exposed to and assists me in distributing toiletries, clothing and food to the incredibly growing amount of homeless people in NYC where he takes a class. We don't live in a very diverse town. It's gotten more diverse over the years but by statistic, most people are virtually the same. So it's up to us to make sure he has diversity infused into his life. I'm not interested in just giving money or going to charity dinners. Not to mention that I don't have the money to do those things. We want E to see how action can help so that's what we do.

If I can help someone else take a moment to make someone else think about taking some action out of their natural comfort zone with their kids, I'm happy with that too. The other night, when I was unloading my car after the grocery store, a mom & daughter stopped me outside. I'd met the woman once before, but I didn't recognize her. She expressed how she always stops to look at my house because she really liked how colorful it looks. That's because of our PRIDE flag, our purple stone Buddha, a rainbow sign with our "beliefs" about equality, and some other stuff (like my ginormous Beyonce chicken). I told her how we went to and were in the parade and she said- "We really have to start doing stuff like that. It's important". If walking her dog by my house just reminds her daily that she wants to teach her kids about diversity, then I feel like putting myself out there is all worth it.

Oh, and all three of us were wearing shirts I had made for any PRIDE events. You can get them too or a version of them here:
https://www.cafepress.com/taraspride