The Lure of An Outdoor Party With Music, Beer and, Yes, Lesbians Brings Out this Hetrosexual Male For An Different Kind of Day
Every now and then, it’s important to check out other things in life to see how other people live and to experience something different.
So when I learned of an event in Long Beach, CA that draws 100,000 people, has bands and goes through an astonishing 550 kegs of Anheuser-Busch beer in two days, I was intrigued. Intrigued enough to check it out in 2011, even though it wasn’t exactly my type of gathering. the annual Lesbian & Gay Pride Festival.
Now, to be clear, I am not gay and don’t make a habit of hanging around gay places or events. I’ve spent a ton of time in San Francisco and have never been to Castro Street. I’ve partied in Mykonos and only once – by sheer accident and with a girl – stumbled into a gay bar. (We didn’t hang around and soon found our way to the Skandinavian Bar.)
But on Sunday, May 22, I found myself walking through the entrance, lured by curiosity – I’m a reporter, after all, and just had to get a look the people who go to this event and in such huge numbers – to drink beer on the very street where just a month before IndyCars were racing at 180 mph for the Long Beach Grand Prix and the remote possibility that I might find a couple of cute lesbians whom I could perhaps coax back to my “team.”
Now if there’s one thing about gay people I appreciate, it’s how they can just go out there and flaunt it, to be open about it when in their groups, and show, well, pride, in their choice of lifestyle. It’s free expressionism, and that’s what the good ‘ol USA is all about for all its citizens.
And I certainly saw a lot of free expressionism. Flamboyant costumes were everywhere – some looked as if they had just stepped off a float in a Mardi Gras parade and this was male and female participants – and guys in “macho Speedos” for lack of a better term. Overall there was a great, electric vibe. The event has a huge footprint in downtown Long Beach, going from the big parking lot next to the “Wyland building” (the Long Beach Arena, which is painted with a Wyland mural of whales) down Shoreline Drive and on Marina Green from beyond Linden Dr., to Shoreline Village. And everywhere was happening.
My first stop was going to be one of many of the beer stations. Finding them was easy; there were huge Budweiser flags flying above them and that’s where the biggest crowds were gathered. I was headed to one – thought I would walk around with a bold “King of Beers” Budwieser – when out of the corner of my eye I spied a mobile bar of sorts. It was in the middle of a parking lot and was actually a roll-up bar with stools. This was just too cool to pass up, of course, so I bellied up to the bar.
They happened to be pouring Stella, one of my favorite beers, and in 17-ounce cups, no less (beers at the festival are $6). For a brief instant, I thought about sitting there all day and personally increasing the consumed keg count from 550 to 551. But there was too much to see and so I took it and walked around the grounds. (That’s one really cool thing about this event; you can get a drink and take it anywhere! That sort of thing doesn’t happen often in the States, and particularly in California, where too often people have to drink from behind fencing in a designated beer garden.)
The place turned out to be like an open-air nightclub. There were even Go-Go dancers (smokin’ hot females and, of course, a guy dancing) on platforms, a dance area under a tent that was absolutely cranking, a Latin stage with a band that was packed, a dance/hip-hop stage with DJ and a large main stage with live bands.
Overall, it was pretty much like being at a big outdoor party festival, and only occasionally were there reminders it was a Lesbian & Gay Festival. Most of those reminders were in the form of t-shirts (Legalize Gay) and pro-Proposition 8 signs people carried. There was the occasional view of guys holding hands and a few quick lesbian kisses but nothing so far over the edge as to make this hetrosexual male feel uncomfortable.
My funniest moment came when I was gawking at one of the female Go-Go dancers. A guy came up to me and said, “she’s hot!” His comment caught me somewhat by surprise but I eagerly engaged him in conversation.
“Oh yeah, and there’s a blonde over there that’s even hotter,!” I exclaimed.
“Really!? Where?”
“Over there against the fence. She’s not dancing now but she’s incredible.”
Just when it appeared I was having a male bonding moment talking about attractive women, he said, “Nice! And that guy dancing is hot, too!”
HA! Yep, I was not in Sharkeez but indeed at the Gay Pride Festival. It was a funny moment.
There were even quite a few straight people in the crowd. Apparently, I was hardly the only such person who wanted to drink beer and listen to music at a festival on a beautiful sunny day. It was a great time and I would encourage anyone who likes such things to check it out in the future. Just keep an open mind and you’ll be fine (tickets are $20 at the gate and parking is $10).
In fact, my only real disappointment was in the lesbians. I was hoping – like any straight guy – to see some really hot ones, model types who were outwardly showing passion for one another. Alas, although there were definitely some cute ones, most resembled Chasity (or Chad as she/he is now known) Bono.
The best-looking girls were the Go-Go dancers and the gals handing out the Budweiser Mardi Gras beads. So that is where I spent the majority of my time. They also happened to be standing next to the roll-up bar.
Not a bad day by any means.
Related Link: Long Beach Lesbian & Gay Pride Festival Review
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