Stonewall 2.0 or how I learned to , if not like, then tolerate the under 30 gays....

To start off with , this will be a LONG blog, because a lot has happened, and to break it up would be to work backwards in time, and that's just not going to happen today.

1. I love my husband ! and you know, and not just due to him I was smack dab in the middle of the white hot center of the homo universe this weekend. There are other reasons as well.
2. I am too old and too... well, lets say panda bear shaped to have spent 16 out of 31 hours yesterday sleepless on a very cramped bus with LOTS of college undergrads. ( and really, what is up with these healthy activist kids today, not ONE pint was snuck on the darn bus...) We have taken these bus trips to Albany for lobby day before and its a big luxurious bus,.. barko loungers on wheels. This one was not. BUT, that is a tiny tiny complaint from a wonderful, powerful, loving weekend.

So, lets get started.

Our rack on wheels was to leave Rochester at 11pm on Saturday night. ( hard to pass the need to drown my sorrows post UGA's spanking, but I was strong) Pookie and Koda were going for a sleep over with Toebie and the Gandell's . Bryan comes over here - And lets just stop here at the beginning and thank Father Bryan Bedell, straight man, for making this trip with us. THIS IS WHAT IS GOING TO WIN THIS WAR FOR EQUALITY! The power and commitment of these lgbt kids and the help and support of straight people like Bryan, So many many heart felt thank you's, Bryan. One the road! ( with a lovely cheese and cracker snack from the always supportive Dahn, so many to her as well! I am still just full of the love...)

Kyle, Neil and Bryan.. the bus elders ( there were a sprinkling of other old folks )
Cute young gay couple all cat like asleep on the bus
If you are in college today, your device, what ever it may be, is another organ of the body. ALWAYS in use...

I did not know anything about the bus trip. Neil asked, " do you want to take a bus trip to the march and not be away from Pookie all that long? I was there. It was a trip sponsored by the local glbt alliance, BUT , it was pretty much done at the MANY MANY colleges around here. Our's was filled with R.I.T. students and a big hand full of brand new, very shiny ,very committed Socialist, who I think also went to RIT or some college around here. It was fine, rode through the night , talk of many overthrows from the Socialist, stopped for breakfast at a Denny's in Maryland, I stayed on the bus for a much needed cat nap.

By Dawns Early Light...

We are here! Have no idea why the one guy has a wiener hat on, but it was all about a day of love and self expression..
Lafayette park , there right in front of the White House was the staging area. For MANY blocks around there were people buzzing around, some LARGE 1000+ groups with signs, yelling, others just coming over. Lots of signs, there really was a real energy in the air.
maybe our Christmas Card this year...
This was odd, there was a guard/sniper/who ever on the roof of the white house, a good thing, we want them safe, but , he had some sort of film or something you could not see in front of him that distorted him.. could have been my lack of sleep , but Bryan saw it too..
The luckiest guy in DC on Sunday. There was also a Breast Cancer awareness march on the Mall on Sunday Morning. This guy was selling PINK FEATHER BOA's to the marchers. He did not know that a hundred thousand gay men were about to march right by him..... bet they had a very nice dinner later on.

We were not marching. Neil was going to be ON STAGE for the event wearing his hat as an Integrity Vice President. HOW DAMN EXCITING! The most important glbt event in decades and we are going to be a very small part of it. I was excited just to get my pass, thinking I would have a very nice souvenir. We got a t-shirt as well.

Neil is going to be on stage with the very first group, giving the Invocation. Welcoming ALL . It was given by the founder of the MCC CHURCH, Troy Perry. Who told us while we were all chatting before the event that he is the ONLY man to speak at all four of the major LGBT right marches on Washington. He seemed like a very nice man.

Here is the group that was up there, there is really, one of everything and at least two Episcopalians. Here is the whole invocation ( its long) but Neil's Name is said at the very start, so watch just the beginning.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING REALLY INTERESTING.....

Ok, now , just to set the scene, this event was held exactly where President Obama was sworn in, the West Lawn of the Capitol, which has , as you would expect , a big lawn, that is where the event was. So there was a very long roped off walk way up to behind the stage area, where there was all the technological stuff, some staging areas , water and snacks, things you would expect.. and the kyle+blog, something you really would NOT expect. We knew that Neil was going on first, and the march had not yet even really started so we just went up to hang out, until the crowds got there, Neil would do his thing and we go back to join some friends down with the masses. It was a warm BEAUTIFUL day in Washington DC yesterday, and I just walked over to the wall in front of the Capitol that was in the shade to park while Neil was with his group. When others started to show up, we were not alone:

This was our view, the Capitol is right behind us.
Neil, JUDY SHEPARD and ERIC ALVA
Neil, Judy Shepard and an fellow Integrity member. Come on people, the President is going to sign the Mathew Shepard Act this week, and here we are hanging out chatting with her. A lovely , very kind, woman, who you can just tell would sell her soul to not to have to be doing this.
Neil with Eric Marine Sgt. Eric Alva, who in 2003 became first American wounded in the Iraq War, a proud out gay man, he is working hard to end DADT. A real honor to meet him. I knew who he was the second I saw him.
The snack and water guy. He was cute, we bonded.

While Neil was in line and onstage the powers that be took a bunch of folding chairs and lined them all up across the area that I was in. I thought a bunch of people were coming who needed seats... no, they were making the VIP section of back stage, and I was on the RIGHT side of the line. I was there at the start, and from all they knew I was a VI....

The view as the marchers arrive
Cynthia Nixon arrives. Just on her own, I believe she marched.. hopefully not in the fabulous heels she was wearing
Dustin Lance Black typing away, Dan Choi, Eric Alva, Judy Shepard, and a big body guard
Lady Ga Ga.... she arrived with an entourage, and kept to herself. She was texting the entire time that she was there. During the Naiton Anthem, Dan Choi who was standing beside her, hoped to his feet at full attention, saluting... she tweeted away. I am not a fan of hers. I am way to old, but I know she is pretty much the hottest pop star on the planet right not, so nice of her to be there for her " God and Gays.."
Dan Choi and his boyfriend, the Ga Ga entrage

Kyle and Dan Choi. Long time readers know how excited I was about meeting him. He was the only " celebrity" that I walked up too. He borrowed my pen and kept it.....
Kyle and the leader of this whole event, my new hero and best friend forever Cleve Jones. This was such a shock to see him.. not that he would not be there, this was his march! He planned it, he did all the leg work. We chatted for a bit, I know he marched, I think he led it. Here I am, really, nobody from nowhere, his big to do, and he spent a brief time chatting with me, letting us take pics. He is the real deal...
lots of folks around the Ga Ga...
Cynthia Nixon just sitting getting ready to go on stage. She is tiny,beautiful skin, perfect Miranda hair ( she is still filming SATC two ) a perfect size one, maybe a zero, but looks healthy. She went over to talk with someone about what time she was going on stage and came back with a sticker of some sort on the back of her dress, I walked up to her and said " I don't mean to get fresh, but you have a piece of paper on your dress " she said " well get it off" I did... but did not keep the little scrap of sticky paper. I will admit, I did ask for a picture and she said " I am just getting my self together to go on stage, looking over my notes, but as soon as I am off stage" . I am sure that if I had asked after this she would have, but there were so many around here. Those Hair folks loved them some Cynthia.
Cynthia Nixon and the cast of hair. Martina was there, many others. You could not sling a faux fur dead cat and not hit a member of the mighty powerful lesbian mafia.
So, we have been back stage for a long time, the rally is going on 250,ooo people in front of the stage, and we wanted to go feel the crowd, so we are going to leave our little nirvana, meet back up with Bryan and go on with our day. Cynthia was taking pics with all the Hair folks and others around here when ( OMG ) Audra McDonald walks up , just all on her on. Kyle lets go with a LOUD AGG ( audibal gay gasp.. and yes, followed by " oh my god, its you! ) I reached out to grab the closest Hair Hippy, tossed my camera to her and she took the pic. Fairly sure she gets this many many times a day from my gay broadway obsesses brothers, and she could not have been more kind. AUDRA McDONALD kiddies... Kyle had a good day.

You know, they really were checking other peoples little badges before they would let anyone into this impromptu little VIP area, off the charts funny that we were back there. People could not have been nicer, everyone keeping their eyes on the prize , there for a reason and all.

This is the scene from the edge of the crowd, the stage is way way up there.

And people on the other side of the streets. Everyone was happy, and unlike your typical gay pride parade, it all looked VERY mainstream to me.

This young man watching the event. The more things change, the more they stay the same...

We made our way back to the bus, we could not wait till the very end of the rally, out bus was leaving at Sixish. So we missed Hair on stage. I hope it's on youtube, I have not checked yet. It had been a very long day. Took forever to get home, we got a little lost somewhere in Pennsylvania. More later on, with some links to the coverage.

A video from Andy Towle who was backstage with me ( dueling blogs)