Philadelphia Pride

By Mister Curie

I had a fantastic time at Philadelphia Pride.  Having gone last year, there weren't really any surprises.  It was just nice to feel accepted for being myself.  Madame Curie came along this year and we had a wonderful time.

Philadelphia Pride Parade and Festival

By Mister Curie


The Philadelphia Pride Parade and Festival is this coming Sunday.  Last year was my first time attending and I had an enjoyable time.  I am looking forward to attending again this year.  I would love to meet up with others if any of  my readers are also planning to attend.

Details can be found here: http://www.phillypride.org/

QFest: Sunday

By Mister Curie

As Madame Curie already announced on her blog, we are attending QFest, the Philadelphia Gay and Lesbian film festival, this year.  We sat down and identified which days we could arrange for babysitting so we could attend together and then we identified which other films were "must see" and we arranged with each other to watch Le Petite Curie so the other person could go on a solo excursion to the film festival.  Just to keep it fair, we each get the same number of solo nights out and we will each see a total of 10 films at the film festival (4 together, 6 solo).  Today's films we are going to see are as follows:

Is It Just Me?

A witty, feel-good romantic comedy about a sexually-frustrated young man, his hunky go-go boy roomate and the man he meets in an online chatroom. Romance turns to chaos when a case of mistaken identity upsets his chance for true love.
One of the funniest and sweetest gay romantic comedies in years, Is It Just Me? delivers a refreshingly witty take on one gay boy’s search for Mr. Right. Cute, but unaware of his adorableness, Blaine (Nicholas Downs), a newspaper columnist can’t seem to meet guys, let alone form a relationship. His beefy go-go boy roommate Cameron— who has no shortage of willing partners —can’t understand why he doesn’t pounce and enjoy some one-nighters. Instead, Blaine hides in his room and searches Internet chat rooms for a kindred spirit. He may have found one in the form of Zander, a shy recently relocated Texan. But when the time comes to exchange photos, Blaine accidentally sends an image of his hunky roomie, and things go from romantically promising to just confusing. This case of mistaken identity escalates when Blaine begs his roommate to go out with the charming, sandy-haired Zander. When it seems they hit it off, our lonely hero feels love has passed him by again... or did it? Think Cyrano de Bergerac by way of Eating Out, writer/director J.C. Calciano’s first feature film is a hilarious, captivating winner. And the guys aren’t bad either!

Beyond Gay: The Politics of Pride

A documentary exploring the role and relevance of Pride Celebrations, detailing the vast differences in Pride movements around the world.
This film covers the diverse range of Pride events along with the political dynamics behind them. From Brazil's government sponsored events that attract three million participants to Sri Lanka, where "curative rape" is sanctioned as a "cure" for lesbianism, you are reminded that homosexuality remains illegal in roughly 80 countries (punishable by death in seven). As Ken Cooler (Canadian Pride Festival Planner) travels to various locations around the world a 'Freedometer' charts each location/country's LGBT tolerance level. Highlights of the film include interviews with Gilbert Baker—the activist who created the Rainbow Flag, along with Russian organizer Nikolai Alekseev. Alekseev arranged cloak and dagger meetings to stage and quickly disperse a parade in Moscow, where the mayor has banned the Pride parade forever. This 2008 Moscow Gay Pride March will have you cheering and standing on your feet. Even those who have become jaded toward parades and Pride events will have a lot to reconsider after viewing this inspiring film.


The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister


Considered by many to be the first modern lesbian, Anne Lister—born in the same era as Jane Austen—was an inspiring 19th-century landowner, industrialist and traveler. A prolific diarist, she detailed her observations on life, and her passionate affairs with other women in over four million words, one-sixth written in secret code!
John Lister, the last in the line of the Lister family, wisely stashed the diaries of his relative Anne behind the paneling of the ancestral home in Shibden Hall, Halifax, Yorkshire, over 150 years ago. Discovered in the 1980s, this Sapphic treasure-trove which took 6-years to decode is the rich source material for this sumptuously produced, BBC period-drama. The story starts with Anne, (Maxine Peake, "Criminal Justice") looking through her monocular at a woman, Mariana (Anna Madeley), her secret lover and soul-mate. United, they savor illicit kisses pressed against an ancient tree. When Mariana succumbs to societal pressure and marries a wealthy landowner, Charles Lawton, Anne is bereft. Finding solace in scholarly pursuits—journal-writing, pistol-shooting and remodeling the vast estate—her libido is soon re-energized when she spies a young pretty parishioner, Miss Browne. When an heiress, Ann Walker, agrees to back a business proposal, Miss Lister has to make some difficult choices to carve out a lesbian life for herself. Writer Jane English (“Sugar Rush”) and director James Kent deserve a standing ovation for resuscitating the true story of this remarkable woman, who only loved “the fairer-sex,” and bringing her vividly back to life, 170 years after her death!

I will see the first two solo, while we will see the third film together.  Reviews to follow . . .

NYC Pride

By Mister Curie

As evidenced by Madame Curie's post yesterday, we (Madame Curie, Le Petite Curie, and myself) all attended Pride in New York City.  We were also lucky enough to be able to meet up with NYC's resident MoHo, Horizon, for the Pride events (which really was lucky considering the difficulty we had finding each other in the crowd).  He had found us an amazing spot in the shade, immediately across from the Stonewall Inn.

In comparison to Philadelphia's Pride celebration held a couple of weeks ago, NYC Pride was HUGE!  We watched the parade near the end of its route and the crowds were still huge.  The sidewalks were barricaded to keep the crowds under control and spectators appeared to fill every available space.  The parade was everything I imagined Pride would be.  It was loud, energetic, and colorful.  There weren't any long pauses in the parade and there were amazing costumes (and lack of . . . costumes . . .).  At times it was edgy and "in your face" sexuality.  NYC apparently has an ordinance forbidding nudity below the waist, which is equally applied to men and women, so there were several topless women in the parade as well. Rather than throwing candy there were plenty of condoms and lubricant being handed out (which severely disappointed Le Petite Curie who had initially gotten excited at the packages), but there was still eye-candy in abundance for both Madame Curie and myself. Whereas I was a little surprised by how short the Philly parade was, the NYC Pride parade was longer than I could imagine (in fact, we ended up leaving after watching the parade for over three hours because Le Petite Curie was getting restless and Madame Curie was getting overheated).

Crowd control measures made it difficult for us to navigate our way to the Pride Festival after the parade, and when we got there it was rather disappointing in comparison to the Philadelphia Pride Festival, which was larger than the NYC festival. However, we sat down with Horizon and had a great visit. More on that, my first in-person meeting with a fellow MoHo, in a future post . . .

Pride

By Mister Curie

Philadelphia had their annual LGBT Pride Parade and Festival today.  I was curious what it would be like to attend, as I regularly read about how the "gay lifestyle" isn't a Pride Parade 24/7 and that the 30 second clip that makes the news isn't representative of even the whole Parade.  I asked Madame Curie if she and Le Petite Curie would like to attend the Parade with me.  Madame Curie had a variety of reasons why she didn't want to attend, but she was happy to have me take Le Petite Curie downtown and give her a day to herself.

Le Petite Curie and I had a great time.  The parade wasn't quite as tame as it sounds like the Utah Pride parades were, but the majority of the parade was regularly dressed people marching together behind banners of their respective supportive organizations.  It was only the few floats advertising the local LGBT night clubs that probably made it onto tonight's news.  I was impressed with the several church floats in the parade, showing their support for the LGBT community.  It still surprises me to see religious support for the LGBT community since Mormonism is not supportive at all.  Le Petite Curie loved the police cars, the fire trucks, the candy, and the bright rainbows.  I was a little surprised that the parade was as short as it was, only lasting 1 hour, and with several long gaps between organizations during the parade and the parade itself moved quite slowely.  Le Petite Curie would regularly turn to me throughout the parade and ask if there was more parade coming.  While observing the parade, we were surrounded by a lovely bunch of lesbians who enjoyed giving Le Petite Curie the candy, etc. thrown from the floats.

After the parade was over, we followed the parade route toward the festival and when we got to the judging area for the parade, we realized that we were almost at the beginning of the parade again (I said that it moved slowly), so we watched it a second time.  It was better watching it at the judging area because many of the groups performed for the judges and each group had a little introduction that gave the history of the organization in Philadelphia.  Le Petite Curie fell asleep on my back during the parade round 2, only waking up once when the fire truck honked its horn (he replied, "I can't sleep when it is so loud") and when it started to lightly rain. 

The only anti-LGBT protesters I saw today were near the judging area and at the entrance to the Festival.  One of the supportive church groups had counter-protest signs pre-prepared and their message was that "God made you, loves you, and accepts you just the way you are".

Then we entered the Festival.  The music and entertainment were enjoyable.  Le Petite Curie and I enjoyed walking around looking at all of the booths.  Le Petite Curie particularly enjoyed that the Festival was on the Philly waterfront and so he could watch all the boats in the water. We had a really good time.  It was great to see people enjoying themselves and celebrating overcoming the struggles they felt over who they are, contrary to societal norms.  It felt good to know that I could just be me and that was alright.  It was interesting and a bit comforting to have the baseline assumption be that I am attracted to men.  While standing in line for the porta-potties, Le Petite Curie was trying to flirt with one of the lesbians standing in line ahead of us and she struck up a conversation with me.  She mentioned that she was the oldest of six children and had a twin brother, "who is also LGBT".  In her short statement, she naturally included me in that world.  It felt good.  And while the baseline assumption of people who saw me at the festival is probably as far from my current condition as the baseline assumption of ward members at our ward camp-out the day before, I felt that at least they would accept and empathize with my journey. 

I've always loved rainbows.  It was nice to be able to enjoy them and sport them without worry that people were getting the wrong idea (or, actually, the right idea that I didn't want them to get).  And so, when it was time to leave, I left my rainbow wristband on, so I could carry the spirit of pride back home with me and I could be "out" just a little longer before re-entering my closet.

(All of these photos are my actual photos from the event, and yes that is my arm with wristband).