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Madison Pride Parade

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MCJ graduate
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5 out of 5
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Editor Pick

Madison Pride's Parade, Part II

  • July 19, 2006
  • Rated 5 of 5 by MCJ graduate from German Valley, Illinois
Madison Pride's Parade, Part II

After the LGBT families headed the parade, numerous groups of marchers with their banners and signs filled the streets. There was the PFLAG group (Parents and Friends of Lesbian and Gay) in support of this community. They gleefully marched and showed off their banner. Besides this group, there were the numerous churches in support of the LGBT community who marched and carried their signs/banners. Some of these are the following: delegations from many United Church of Christ and Unitarian-Universalist congregations, First Baptist Church, Unity of Madison, Shaarei Shamayim Jewish congregation, etc. Lastly, there was lesbian congresswoman, Tammy Baldwin whom also marched to offer support against the proposed Wisconsin State amendment to ban gay marriages and civil unions. She waved to the parade crowd with supporters holding her red banner that said “Tammy Baldwin for Congress”.

Concerning the floats this year, I remember seeing very few of them and none to me stood out. This is because none were over the top like last year. Only one float captivated me, it had a couple of well-dressed drag queens in conservative formal wear with dancing young men on it with them. And this year the parade marshal was lesbian comic, Susan Westenhoefer. She rode in a convertible which had its top down and she was waving to the crowd.

The parade ended when it arrived at Brittingham Park. The Madison Pride celebration continued. This is where the political rally began and entertainment followed.

Madison Pride Celebration this year was on July 8th and 9th.
The entry fee on Saturday was $5.00 but on Sunday there was no fee charged. However, you could donate that day!

Madison Pride was held at Brittingham Park in Madison, WI. The address of the park is 401 West Short Drive, Madison, WI . If you are interested attending next year’s Madison pride event here is the web address of this organization:http://www.madisonpride.org and its e-mail: info@madisonpride.org .

From journal Madison Pride 2006

Editor Pick

Madison Pride's Parade

  • July 19, 2006
  • Rated 5 of 5 by MCJ graduate from German Valley, Illinois
Madison Pride's Parade

This year the parade had a different parade route. It was shortened. The procession was not down State Street this year. As an alternative, the parade followed Proudfit St. North to W. Main St. , Right on W. Main to N. Bedford St., Left on N. Bedford to W. Washington Ave., and Left on W. Washington to Brittingham Park. This is because in the past, the LGBT community marching had trouble keeping the parade together. And people complained it was too long of a route, and thus weren’t marching. In addition, the political rally was not held on the steps of the Capital building. Instead, it was held at Brittingham Park. It was done this way for two reasons. One was because this pride celebration had to be moved to another date because of the gay games in Chicago (so people could attend both) and the other conflict was another activity was going on near the Capital called Art Fair on the Square.

As aforementioned in the overview, this pride parade was toned down. The floats at the parade were fewer and the participants on them wore less gaudy and scandalous costumes, but the marchers in the parade were many. This is all due to what the theme was for this year’s pride celebration. The theme was “For Families and Rights, We Unite!” This theme is response to the constitutional amendment that is in front of the voters of WI this fall. This amendment will say, “Only a marriage between a one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state. A legal status identical or substantially similar to that of marriage for unmarried individuals shall not be valid or recognized in this state.”

The LGBT community wanted to show the constituents of WI that they have families. And all they desire to have the same civil rights as they have . They want to be able to marry and have benefits such as health insurance for their partners and children. As a result of this, this community had the parents and their children at the head of the parade, after the Dykes on Bikes (lesbian biker enthusiasts) started the procession. I saw signs that the LGBT people carried that noted how many years committed couples were together. And I saw some lesbians pulling their very young children in wagons, while the parade was in progress. There was also chanting for civil rights from these people.

From journal Madison Pride 2006

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