August 1988

Gay Peoples Chronicle

THE GAY PRIDE PARADE

By THE CHRONICLE STAFF

The Ohio Gay Pride Parade took place on schedule in Columbus June 29. Stonewall Union gave mechanical counters to its monitors, who counted 8,597 marchers, making this the largest parade to date.

The Cleveland contingent was decidedly smaller than last year, in number of bodies-less than 100--and number of organizations.

Resplendant in purple and white, Body Works members (right) provided badly needed color and spirit while we waited to march.

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The Chronicle contingent was delighted to be reunited with Rick Berg (left). Several unaffiliated persons behind us (some of them unfortunately concealed by our banner) helped make the occasion gay in both senses. But many Cleveland marchers (right) seemed subdued.

Both sides of the Broad Street bridge over the Scioto were lined with praying crazies, lifting arms and eyes to the sky to avoid seeing the marchers. We wished we had been prepared. While they were ludicrous rather than alarming, they may have interpreted our silence as fear. We should have been singing or chanting. One Clevelander began singing "We Shall Overcome" but stopped when several marchers * comlained they didn't know the words. low, Brian DeWitt of Gay Waves records the indescribable sound of the crazies.

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Because the fundamentalist crazies had reserved the State House grounds this year, the Parade's destination was the amphitheatre on the Scioto.

The rally there (below) --complete with a floating statuê of libergy--was chaired by Rhonda Rivera and Dennis Cox. San Francisco lesbian/feminist activist Mary C. Dunlap was featured speaker. Buck Harris, gay health consultant for the Ohio Department of Health, urged us to wear the safety pin symbolizing safe sex. Jeff Swindler the speaker for Cleveland, emphasized the importace of volunteer work in the community.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY MARTHA PONTONI