Speaker 1: Ruby and for a while Bob was part of the
Speaker 1: Palm Springs Pride right on his way to the hospital.
Speaker 2: I was very stoned at the time.
Speaker 3: From just beyond the lights of Los Angeles and steamy
Speaker 3: Palm Springs, California, It's Mick Robert Bill just say, and
Speaker 3: this is silver lightning with.
Speaker 1: The old days.
Speaker 3: We're back, kids, and yes the rumors are true. Back
Speaker 3: with a very special bonus episode all about Pride.
Speaker 4: Just in time for Palm Springs Pride, which yes, is
Speaker 4: in November, not June.
Speaker 5: There was a time when pride met marching in fear
Speaker 5: of getting arrested. Now it means walking down the street
Speaker 5: in fear of getting sunburned.
Speaker 4: But at its heart, it's about freedom, visibility, and being
Speaker 4: surrounded by the kind of joy only made by queer
Speaker 4: people together.
Speaker 3: So how did this thing get started?
Speaker 4: In June of nineteen sixty nine, the New York City
Speaker 4: Police Department rated a little bar in New York City
Speaker 4: called the Stone Wall Inn. It was something they always did,
Speaker 4: but that night the people inside fought back.
Speaker 6: Some say butch Lesbian started it. Some say Marsha P.
Speaker 6: Johnson threw the first brick, But either way, Pride started
Speaker 6: because queer folks got sick of being harassed, arrested and
Speaker 6: treated terribly.
Speaker 3: So Pride was a rebellion long before it was a parade,
Speaker 3: and we celebrate to remember that and who we are
Speaker 3: in community with others.
Speaker 5: The four of us have been going to Pride since before.
Speaker 5: Some of you were even as.
Speaker 4: I got I would say most of you.
Speaker 5: So today's episode is all about our fondest Pride memories.
Speaker 6: Well, then let's get to it.
Speaker 4: All right, gentlemen. What Pride event did you attend where
Speaker 4: you discovered that you were part of something really big?
Speaker 6: Well, for me, it was the first Pride I went to,
Speaker 6: which was in the early eighties in San Francisco, And
Speaker 6: when I looked up Market Street and saw all of
Speaker 6: those people just cheering, it made me feel like I
Speaker 6: was really part of something. They were also in two
Speaker 6: two's and drag and all those other wonderful things that
Speaker 6: they do.
Speaker 4: So it was very colorful.
Speaker 6: It was extremely colorful, and the vibe, you could just
Speaker 6: feel the vibe in the air. Everybody had a grin,
Speaker 6: everybody was happy. It was just a joyous occasion just
Speaker 6: to look at it.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think our audiences really don't remember or feel
Speaker 4: the excitement that we felt because the closet door was
Speaker 4: finally open. We were with people who were like ourselves
Speaker 4: that we were celebrating just being ourselves, just being alive.
Speaker 4: And I think it was like a big, big fraternity,
Speaker 4: and you know, it was just special. You were with friends,
Speaker 4: and you made eight friends, and you found lovers and dates,
Speaker 4: and it was it just became your whole social life
Speaker 4: was revolving around it.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it was a very very big thing for me
Speaker 6: to go to my first pride. I've never felt so
Speaker 6: proud in my entire life.
Speaker 4: To say you were going to say something.
Speaker 3: My first pride was in who. It was a shocker.
Speaker 3: It was overwhelming because I'd never seen so many. I'd
Speaker 3: learned what a wife beater was, but I got tired
Speaker 3: of seeing blonde muscles all over. That's all you saw
Speaker 3: were these blondes and big, big muscle bodies, which was
Speaker 3: overwhelming for a little wimp that had come from Nebraska,
Speaker 3: you know. But my eyes were wide and it was
Speaker 3: it was very freeing to be in a gay crowd.
Speaker 3: I'd been in church all this time in child. This
Speaker 3: is a new worship experience and still continues to be
Speaker 3: here in Palm Springs because I was at their first
Speaker 3: one also, which lasted about fifteen minutes, and I felt
Speaker 3: like a parent. I was so proud of Palm Springs
Speaker 3: for just starting. I don't remember what year it was.
Speaker 5: Well, like Bill, my first Pride experience was going to
Speaker 5: the Pride parade in San Francisco in nineteen eighty, right
Speaker 5: after I had moved to the city, and my roommates
Speaker 5: kept telling me about the Pride event and the parade
Speaker 5: and all, and so when we actually went, I had
Speaker 5: never seen so many people being so joyous and celebratory
Speaker 5: in the streets, said, being themselves, and it was really
Speaker 5: a very good dealing.
Speaker 4: The first Pride I attended was in nineteen seventy nine
Speaker 4: in West Hollywood, and that was the first year in
Speaker 4: West Hollywood because the city. In prior years the parade
Speaker 4: was held on Yucker Street in Hollywood. But Ed Davis,
Speaker 4: who was the at that time the chief of the LAPD,
Speaker 4: finally said we're not going to say issue any permits
Speaker 4: to you guys anymore because this is an illegal assembly.
Speaker 4: At that time, homosexuality was still illegal in California, and
Speaker 4: so they moved it to West Hollywood. Which was unincorporated,
Speaker 4: and the Sheriff's department was much easier to deal with.
Speaker 4: And yes, there were nothing but blonde, blue eyed Musselman,
Speaker 4: of which I was one.
Speaker 3: Oh blonde.
Speaker 4: You know, Pride was not the first idea to name
Speaker 4: the parade. The first gay parades were actually in celebration
Speaker 4: of what was then known as gay power, because this
Speaker 4: was the time of black power, this was the time
Speaker 4: of Chicano power, this was the time of women's power.
Speaker 4: And the first permitted Pride parade was in Los Angeles
Speaker 4: in nineteen seventy and that was a pretty big event
Speaker 4: for a city the size of Los Angeles to give
Speaker 4: a permit for a public assembly in celebration of something
Speaker 4: that was illegal. And you have to think about those
Speaker 4: times because they're completely different from where we are now.
Speaker 6: One thing that I really enjoy seeing now is the
Speaker 6: amount of families that come out to watch the gay
Speaker 6: Pride parade, because I mean for little kids, I mean
Speaker 6: guys around in two two's and that kind of thing.
Speaker 6: And also it's sort of a sentimental thing since I
Speaker 6: came out when I was in high school. But I
Speaker 6: really enjoy seeing from all over the valley the gay
Speaker 6: straight Alliance because if I would have just had that
Speaker 6: kind of club when I came out in high school,
Speaker 6: it would have been so nice just to be able
Speaker 6: to express myself as I really wanted to do instead
Speaker 6: of pretending to be this straight guy. But those clubs,
Speaker 6: I think are just absolutely joy and I'm sure that
Speaker 6: they get a lot of inner support.
Speaker 4: You know, there has been a change from like when
Speaker 4: Jesse and I first attended our first gay Pride, we
Speaker 4: were pretty still really closeted.
Speaker 3: We weren't really in extremely.
Speaker 4: We were wearing just normal clothes, normal meaning street clothes.
Speaker 4: There was no expression like you see now. You know,
Speaker 4: what I also think is it's easier for people now,
Speaker 4: for younger generations to come out to a pride event.
Speaker 4: You know, at the first Pride event I attended, there
Speaker 4: were no cameras. Nobody wanted their picture taken because you could.
Speaker 4: You could lose your house, you could be thrown out
Speaker 4: of your apartment, you could be fired, and so those
Speaker 4: kinds of things were very much of people's lines.
Speaker 3: To say, how have you seen pride change? You know,
Speaker 3: at ours, I'm the only pride I go to is
Speaker 3: this one. And in Palm Springs and I'm just grinning
Speaker 3: the whole time, just seeing how we've grown as the people,
Speaker 3: and it's a lot of fun and all about hugs, hugs, hugs,
Speaker 3: and my cheeks are exhausted at the end of a
Speaker 3: parade from grinning and laughing and the love that's just
Speaker 3: coming back to us. It's still like we kind of
Speaker 3: first began. You still get overwhelmed by it, but in
Speaker 3: a great way. Thank you all, yes for the love
Speaker 3: you give us. We live for it, especially when Bob's there.
Speaker 5: I remember the first Pride parade in Palm Springs and
Speaker 5: it was on this neighborhood street next to a park,
Speaker 5: and it was about four or five blocks long, and
Speaker 5: there were maybe half a dozen convertibles and maybe two
Speaker 5: hundred people, including both the parade participants and the spectators.
Speaker 6: What is your favorite ass respect of Pride, holy experience,
Speaker 6: the whole banana?
Speaker 3: Yeah, but the people.
Speaker 5: I mean, the people stand out because these are a
Speaker 5: lot of individuals trying not to be an individual, but
Speaker 5: something special and as you said earlier, families, mothers, fathers, kids,
Speaker 5: as well as members of the community. So I mean
Speaker 5: my favorite thing literally is watching the people. I mean,
Speaker 5: first of all, everybody is really really hyped up. But
Speaker 5: just seeing all the various people in their states of
Speaker 5: dress and undress and costumes and that I think it's
Speaker 5: absolutely fabulous.
Speaker 4: You know, I didn't think about all the parades I
Speaker 4: used to tended West Hollywood and how it's grown and
Speaker 4: you can have many experiences on a day of Gay Pride.
Speaker 4: I'm good and bad, But the best part about it
Speaker 4: is walking around the fair, cruising other guys with your
Speaker 4: shirt off and in that beautiful California son.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I second that, Mick. I think that's part of
Speaker 6: the glory of it too.
Speaker 3: Yeah. And I always did that with my body, No,
Speaker 3: I lust did, and I still do it muscles.
Speaker 4: Well, Like I said, you know, the first gay Pride
Speaker 4: event I attended, I ended up meaning a lot of people,
Speaker 4: but a door introduced me to another door, which and
Speaker 4: that's how gay light recedes.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 4: It's like this big network, but it's some of the
Speaker 4: contacts that you make at an event like this that
Speaker 4: that can change the directory of your life.
Speaker 5: One of the things I appreciate about these events is
Speaker 5: just seeing the creativity of so many people in terms
Speaker 5: of what they're wearing and the way the floats are
Speaker 5: decorated in the marching units and everything.
Speaker 3: It's just.
Speaker 5: Being an artist. I appreciate that a lot.
Speaker 4: Maybe this is backtracking, but what are your favorite Pride
Speaker 4: event moments.
Speaker 5: I have very vivid memories. So one in San Francisco
Speaker 5: in the late nineteen eighties, my next door neighbor was
Speaker 5: part of a drag group known as the Balloon Girls,
Speaker 5: and they sponsored an entry afloat in the parade and
Speaker 5: one Donnie asked me if I would like to drive
Speaker 5: the truck for the clothes, and I said I'd love to.
Speaker 5: And so it was this big Mac truck with a
Speaker 5: large flat bed, all decorated in balloons, of course, and
Speaker 5: I was above the crowd. And when I made that turn,
Speaker 5: I looked down Market Street and it was a mass
Speaker 5: of people as far as the eye could see. And
Speaker 5: I think that year they estimated the crowd at over
Speaker 5: a million people. Well, I have two memories also, One
Speaker 5: was in San Francisco and one in Palm Springs, and
Speaker 5: it was my first Pride parade. I had a place
Speaker 5: on Market I could go to friends, had to second
Speaker 5: story attorney's office, so I had a view from the top,
Speaker 5: and all of a sudden, the earth started to shake,
Speaker 5: and that's what it.
Speaker 4: Sounded, and the buildings way.
Speaker 3: And the queens are flying, and.
Speaker 6: All of a sudden, all of these dikes on bikes
Speaker 6: came through and I looked and there was all of
Speaker 6: them wearing black leather, and in the back I saw
Speaker 6: too lesbian. One of them was wearing white, and literally
Speaker 6: she was sitting on the lap of her partner who
Speaker 6: was driving the bike. And the closer she got, I
Speaker 6: realized she was also top plus. And these two lesbians
Speaker 6: were They were huge, they were absolutely huge. And these
Speaker 6: two lesbians facing each other.
Speaker 3: And the second.
Speaker 6: The second funniest thing I ever saw, and it involved Bob,
Speaker 6: and it was in Palm Spring's Pride. Oh Lord, and
Speaker 6: we've told this story before, but but Bob was really
Speaker 6: having a good time, very very early in the morning,
Speaker 6: and all of a sudden, just say looked at Bob
Speaker 6: who was standing there, and he started sliding down the post.
Speaker 3: So no, no, no, no, he was sitting on the
Speaker 3: stool first, and then he started bending over. Oh that's right.
Speaker 6: Then he shoted bending over and we knew something was amiss,
Speaker 6: and they called nine to one one, and all of
Speaker 6: a sudden, the EMTs showed up, put Bob on a
Speaker 6: gurney and for a while Bob was part of the
Speaker 6: Palm Springs Pride.
Speaker 3: Parade on his way to the hospital.
Speaker 5: On the way to the hospital, and I was just
Speaker 5: waving at the crowd with a big smile on my face.
Speaker 3: I was very happy, stoned at the time.
Speaker 7: Yes, we'll be right back after a quick break.
Speaker 3: Welcome back to Silver Lines with the old gates.
Speaker 4: I would like to know personally, what does pride mean
Speaker 4: to each of you, or in other words, pride is
Speaker 4: what just saying.
Speaker 3: Pride is freedom for me, and pride is family my
Speaker 3: new family.
Speaker 6: Pride to me is allowing gay people to celebrate their
Speaker 6: identity and to affirm that they are worth something as
Speaker 6: a person.
Speaker 5: For me, pride means feeling very relaxed and confident about
Speaker 5: who I am and you know, being happy about it,
Speaker 5: feeling spiritually uplifted about who I am and not having
Speaker 5: any questions what's soever at having made the wrong choice
Speaker 5: because it's not a choice.
Speaker 4: No, no, you know. I thought a little bit about
Speaker 4: what pride means, and I went back to when we
Speaker 4: were in Las Vegas last year and we were in
Speaker 4: the car waving at people because we were the Grand
Speaker 4: Marshals and we had a motorcycle escort from the Las
Speaker 4: Vegas Police Department, and you kind of think, oh wow,
Speaker 4: we've really come a long way. And I realized I
Speaker 4: am standing on the shoulders of so many millions of
Speaker 4: queer people who sacrificed their lives for what we have today.
Speaker 4: I don't think we emphasized it that much, because you know,
Speaker 4: we stressed the celebration and the joy. But that is
Speaker 4: a part of it, is that each of us in
Speaker 4: this room, the four of us, have sacrificed in some
Speaker 4: way as a queer person. If you want to understand
Speaker 4: gay pride, that's what gay pride is about. Is about
Speaker 4: the sacrifice of some people's for their own lives. And
Speaker 4: those are the people of whom we stand upon their
Speaker 4: shoulders countless. Because we talk about the fact that pride
Speaker 4: began with the rebellion, with a riot, well how did
Speaker 4: this country begin? So you know, our story here is
Speaker 4: as American as apple pie.
Speaker 5: You referred to being in last year's Lost Vegas Pride
Speaker 5: parade and being accompanied by a police escort. I recalled
Speaker 5: there were probably fitting to twenty cops of motorcycles, all
Speaker 5: around and behind us. And I remember having the thought
Speaker 5: at that time that when I first really started participating
Speaker 5: in the gay world in the late sixties early seventies,
Speaker 5: police were arresting us simply for going into a gay bar.
Speaker 5: And now we were being escorted by a massive number
Speaker 5: of police, and that struck me as one of the
Speaker 5: biggest changes that have happened.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, the number of times have been followed
Speaker 4: by the police after leaving a gay bar. You know,
Speaker 4: those days are really at least here over in California.
Speaker 4: But I you know, there are places in the world
Speaker 4: in which you know, it's not only illegal, but you know,
Speaker 4: you can be punishable by death. And I think we
Speaker 4: have to understand that that experience is also part of pride.
Speaker 4: You know, it's also about those who cannot speak yet.
Speaker 4: For me, the future of pride is I hope to
Speaker 4: be surprised the world that we grew up in doesn't
Speaker 4: exist anymore, okay, you know, I mean we're going to
Speaker 4: be entering a world of you know, machines deciding who
Speaker 4: we are, what we are, and when we're going.
Speaker 3: To do it, you know, And.
Speaker 4: That's a big challenge ahead, and it's very different than
Speaker 4: the one we faced.
Speaker 3: I hope it's still here. With all the craziness going on,
Speaker 3: it bothers me, but I just hope it's still going.
Speaker 6: I think another thing that's encouraging about pride is that
Speaker 6: it is slowly being celebrated around the world big and
Speaker 6: that I think that's a big step forward.
Speaker 5: I don't think there's uh put in he putting up
Speaker 5: the tiger back into the cage.
Speaker 4: The continuing struggle of this movement. It really belongs to
Speaker 4: another generation now. But you got to have friends. The
Speaker 4: feelings are so strong. You got to have friends to
Speaker 4: make the day last.
Speaker 3: Long had some friends.
Speaker 4: But something came and took them away and from the
Speaker 4: dust onto the dawn. Here is where I'll stay. I've
Speaker 4: got to stay. That's what pride is about. Watch out,
Speaker 4: he's got a record tomorrow. What is the silver lining
Speaker 4: of celebrating pride.
Speaker 6: I think pride itself is silver.
Speaker 3: Linings in what way?
Speaker 6: We have marriages now which we never had before, And
Speaker 6: I just think we're making great progress.
Speaker 4: Well, I would say we have made great progress. And
Speaker 4: now comes the time too, as they say, secure the ground.
Speaker 3: All right, yeah, just keep it, keep your pride. Don't
Speaker 3: allow people to beat you down, celebrate yourself, and fight
Speaker 3: for yourself.
Speaker 5: To me, the silver lining of gay pride, as exemplified
Speaker 5: by the pride celebrations and parades, is just that this
Speaker 5: is what life is all about. It's a celebration of being.
Speaker 3: Thanks for tuning in, folks. We hope to be back
Speaker 3: with more stories and lessons to share soon, but until then,
Speaker 3: thanks for following along. Silver Linings is a production of
Speaker 3: Iheart's Ruby Studio in the Outspoken Network.
Speaker 6: We're your hosts Bill Lyons.
Speaker 3: Jesse Martin mc peterson, and Robert Briez. Our executive producer
Speaker 3: is Sierra Kaiser. Ryan Amador is our story producer, with
Speaker 3: post production by Eric Zeiler. Theme music was composed by
Speaker 3: Max Herschanau with audio direction and designed by Max still Oh.
Speaker 3: To keep up with the latest updates, please subscribe to
Speaker 3: silver Lines and don't forget to rate and review the
Speaker 3: show wherever you get your podcast.
Speaker 5: Coffee, sir, get half a CuPy up, No sweetener, I'm sweeten.
Speaker 2: I had some dreams. They were clouds in my coffee,
Speaker 2: clouds in my coffee. You're so vain, you probably think
Speaker 2: this song is just about you. You're soul vain. You
Speaker 2: probably think the song is about you, about you, know
Speaker 2: what they think. Who they're referring to