The beginning of summer, and pride

It's summer. It's summer because it's hot. It's summer because it's hot, and I heard a song I liked on the radio. It's summer because it's hot, and I heard a song I liked on the radio, and that's how I knew it was summer as a kid: I opened the windows and enjoyed the heat and turned the radio up loud.

I listened to Casey Kasem's Countdown. I listened to my 45s.

And life was good.

One of the few things I love about Vegas is that it's hot in the summer, and that activates my inner Stonehenge. In the summer I was free from school, and that made the milestones that marked summer all the more important.

Memorial Day Weekend.

The heat.

Pool season.

Wheat harvest.

Freedom. To do nothing. To open the windows and blast my music. To run around in as few clothes as possible (my friend Brian would wear his swim trunks for days in a row, even sleeping in them).

I loved my first decade in San Francisco, but one thing that was always difficult was the disconnect between my internal sense of the seasons turning and the external reality of a cold, foggy June. An August/September summer just isn't the same.

I want it hot, and reliably so, and I want to hear pop hits. I want to be free.

JUNE IS ALSO PRIDE MONTH, and this year is the 40th anniversary of Stonewall. I've been thinking of Pride's gone by...

1988, Stonewall 19. My first Pride. I went to San Jose Pride earlier in the month. A week or two later, I arrived in SF early to march with the Stanford contingent. I was outdoors from sunrise to sunset, and I got the worst sunburn I've ever had. I remember making eye contact with a boy on a float as it passed by. I made out at The Stud with my friend Matt. It was all magnificent.

1989. I was dating my first James. We had broken up for a week (not the first time, not the last). I went to SF with my friend Andrew, and we went to one of the first nights at Pleasuredome, the nightclub that was to become my all-time favorite. I also went to Santa Cruz Pride (once was enough).

1990. SF. I think this was the first year that Oracle Corp. had a group marching in the parade.

1991. I had just moved to SF; I think we had a party at Club Fabu. The first Pink Saturday?

1992. In SF, but my memories are vague.

1993. Uh, oh, vague again. My last SF Pride before meeting Tommy and "the new era." :-)

1994. Tommy and I celebrated SF Pride and flew to NYC the next day with Bette and Andrew for Stonewall 25. Now that was a week! We saw none of the Gay Games... but we went to a lot of great parties. Everywhere we went the streets were filled with gay men and lesbians: leathermen in chaps at the theater, boys on the subway, girls in the streets. Everywhere. Tommy and I stood on top the WTC and climbed to the crown of the Statue of Liberty. We danced in a gothic cathedral and on an aircraft carrier. Nights to remember...

1995. My friends and I danced all night, changed clothes, and rode the Club Universe float--the last float in the parade--in what was definitely my wackiest SF Pride ever. And this, the most memorable of all years, also included our first San Diego Pride. Our first zoo party: one of the best evenings with my Joy Luck friends ever! Where is the butterfly egg?

1996. SF, but a strange year. Not with Tommy, but not without him either. I think I hit Long Beach Pride as well.

1997. Jamie and I missed SF, instead spending a glorious week in Puerto Vallarta. But we went to San Diego Pride with friends from SF and Madrid.

1998. SF and San Diego with Jamie. Very good times.

1999. SF and San Diego with Jamie. More good times.

2000. San Jose Pride with a new group of friends. Then home to Kansas for a family reunion, missing most of SF Pride. Returned for Pleasuredome Sunday night; much awkwardness seeing Jamie. The beginning of a long, rough period...

2001. SF Pride. Way too excessive, though memorable. But long-lasting consequences.

2002. My first year in Portland. Marched in the parade with the Panorama float, but had a strangely lonely afternoon. Too many friends working that day...

2003. I missed Portland pride, home with a cold. But had a really fun Vancouver Pride with my friend Alex. (Or was that 2004?)

2004. Another vague year... not sure if I went to Portland Pride or not...

2005. Missed Portland Pride and what I think was the first warehouse party. Was in Los Angeles for Andrew's 40th.

2006. Back in SF, and a fun weekend celebrating pride. And back to Portland for the craziest Pride there ever! If only I hadn't lost my rental car... twice!

2007. Believe it or not, my first LA Pride at the end of the AIDS/LifeCycle. And then SF Pride... my absolute rock bottom during another difficult time. So over SF by this point. And then I met Victor at San Diego Pride.

2008. San Diego Pride with Victor. Some good moments, some very bad ones.

2009. Stonewall 40. Portland Pride... what a wonderful trip! So many good friends to see again.
Everything was just right and in balance. And a last minute trip to SF today, back to where it all started. :-)

UPDATE And to top off 2009, Tommy and I headed to San Diego for Pride. A very fun weekend... the highlight was our janitor grift... we pretended to be janitors to get into a sold-out party Saturday night!