THEIR lean, rippling bodies glistened with sweat under the summer sky. Bare-chested in the tightest of briefs, the men danced on the street and blew kisses to the crowd.
The music was loud, but louder still were the sexy bustiers, wigs and feathers in all hues, which made quite a fashion statement. Drag queens reigned the day, surely.
“Slap & Tickle,” one banner said.
Yes, it was the 39th annual New York City LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) Pride March in Manhattan last Sunday.
“Have a nice gay!” greeted one poster.
“Slap & Tickle”, meanwhile, was to promote an off-Broadway play “on how drugs, politics and HIV have changed the landscape for gay men” in the United States.
Parade participants ranged from the weekly newspaper Gay City News to the LGBT alumni, faculty, staff and students of Cornell University.
“Queer and Proud Every Day,” according to marchers from the College of Staten Island.
Among the VIPs who marched in the parade were Christine C. Quinn, New York City Council Speaker, the first openly gay person elected to the post.
One woman carried a sign proclaiming love for her gay son.
Mementos such as key chains and bead necklaces were tossed to the crowd, who reached out with eager hands. Rainbow flags and balloons added colour to the passing floats.
Amidst the gaiety, a message was sent out to the next US commander-in-chief through a banner strung across a parading van with sketches of Barack Obama and John McCain.
The community wants a national strategy to end AIDS, and the plan to be drawn up by the new president within his first 100 days in office.
But perhaps there is more reason for gays to celebrate in New York now. While the state does not allow homosexuals to marry, its state agencies were directed, in May, to recognise same-sex marriages that took place outside of New York.
Massachusetts and California are the only two states that permit gay couples to be legally wed. Others such as New Jersey, New Hampshire, Connecticut and Vermont allow what they term as civil unions.
News reports showed that almost 11,000 gay couples have tied the knot in Massachusetts since the state legalised such marriages in 2004. Most of them who walked down the aisle were lesbians.
California began recognising gay marriages about three weeks ago.
Local newspapers such as The San Diego Union-Tribune front-paged the landmark event for several days.
Its headline “Just Married” said it all on June 18, a day after what the newspaper described was “a sense of history” when 230 marriage licences were issued to same-sex couples.
A news report carried interviews with churches which hold on to the belief that marriage is sacred, and strictly between a man and a woman.
The gay community there then reportedly began compiling names of priests willing to bless homosexual couples.
Comedienne Ellen DeGeneres is also among those planning to get hitched, now that California has lifted the ban on gay marriages.
“I’m seeing someone now. If we want to get married one day, we’ll go to California to do it, or probably somewhere in Europe,” said Patty Caki, a make-up artist with a local TV station in New York City.
A native New Yorker, he observed that things had improved for the gay community here.
“Sometimes, people still see you differently although I personally have not had any unpleasant experiences,” said Caki.
Hate crimes persist, though. He cited the 2006 assault of gay singer Kevin Aviance by a group of youths, who also screamed anti-gay slurs at him.
“And, the only reason the attack made the news was because Aviance was quite a celebrity,” said Caki, who came to watch the Pride march on Fifth Avenue, wearing a knee-length dress and full make-up.
“I love the parade. It’s fun, it’s expressive,” he said.
Really, what’s not to revel about the parade? As New York Post put it, “marchers represented an array of sexual subcultures from ... butch-femme lesbians to big hairy men flaunting their paunches”.
