400,000 show for Twin Cities Pride

By Hart Van Denburg Mon., Jun. 27 2011 at 6:47 AM

Categories: GLBT

Jon Behm

Pride on parade along Hennepin avenue.

Maybe they were buoyed by news that the New York Legislature had just passed a bill allowing same-sex marriage.

Maybe they ventured out because, unlike last year, the weather in Loring Park didn't feel like a steam bath.

Whatever it was, organizers say something like 400,000 people showed up for Twin Cities Pride over the weekend, helping the event bolster its bragging rights as one of the biggest annual LGBT gatherings.

More: Jon Behm's slideshow of the Pride Parade.

Along with the parade down Hennepin Avenue and the festival in Loring Park, Pride took on a renewed political focus this year.

upwiththemooses

Politics at Pride.

The Republican-controlled Minnesota Legislature has set up a potential gay marriage ban via statewide ballot in 2012, and LGBT activists used Pride as a place to help organize their fight against the measure.

Gov. Mark Dayton, who opposes the ballot question, made history Saturday when he became the first Minnesota governor to march in the Pride parade.

We Recommend

remoteswitch

Evolution hates fags & dykes. Fags & dykes hate free speech and expression. LGBT groups are the some of the most intolerant and bigoted bags of trash around.

Scott Rose

There is nothing wrong with this photo selection. One picture shows gay and/or gay-rights supportive people in ordinary street clothes and another shows a fabulous drag queen. Heterosexuals do not have dress like they were in a funeral procession in order to have their rights respected and gay people don't either. This is a parade it is entertainment. When Catholic bishops and priests stand in their pulpits spewing anti-LGBT bigotry, they're wearing some pretty funny clothes themselves.

Johnny

I'll be enthusiasticlly in favor of 'universal marriage' if and ONLY if we also ban no-fault divorce and increase the civil/criminal penalties for a fraudulent marraige

Guest

And are you also a conservative who decries the "nanny state" but find it perfectly acceptable for the government to define who can get married and the terms on which people can dissolve a marriage?

88rock

Could not agree more with what was already said. These photos do a dis-service of epic proportion to the community by continuing every stereotype the media has spent years perpetuating. This is a minuscule minority and for "Citypages" to post them as a representation of the event to the majority of people who were not in attendance is embarrassing to us and to "Citypages".

Keenmediamind

What not call a spade a spade? It's really SISSY PAGES. It is a fag rag.

Shaniman

Bummer, my khaki shorts and black polo shirt didn't make the cut...

Dolafbrown

...and will Jon Brem ALSO be putting up slides of people who were dressed in shorts/tshirts, in other words NON-costumed patrons? You article decidedly points out the peril we in the GLBT community face here in MN with the potential passage of discrimination into our state Constitution. It would be nice if there was equal representation of our ENTIRE community. If this is all the representation that greater Minnesota will see, it certainly doesn't help show the full picture.

Staciaann

So Dolafbrown do you mean like all these photos Jon took:

http://www.citypages.com/slide...http://www.citypages.com/slide...

http://www.citypages.com/slide...

Or the ones that the other CP photographer working Dave took:http://www.citypages.com/slide...

http://www.citypages.com/slide...

I think they did a fair job of representing people who were at the parade (myself included) & the participants in the parade. I didn't include all the photos of people in the parade wearing their organization's t-shirts and shorts/jeans as well...