DC PRIDE

There has been a lot of talk about prides lately mainly because tis pride season. Black Gay Prides unofficially start with the Penn Relays in Philly, and unofficially ends Labor Day in Atlanta. There are various smaller prides throughout the year but the most popular ones are the Penn Relays, Houston Splash, DC Pride, San Juan Brothas, Miami Sizzle, and Atlanta Pride, a complete list can be found at the Federation of Black Gay Prides. Like most incidents in life Prides are what you make it, last year I went to Atlanta’s pride, and was not really all that impressed but No4real4real had a ball in the ATL.
Memorial Day has three prides to go to, Miami Sizzle, San Juan Brothas, and DC pride. After going to Atlanta I refused to spend money to go a pride especially when I had one in my own area. The first day I went out I went to the Edge/Wet, after the daunting and time consuming task of looking for a parking space. Then after standing in line for a hot minute I finally got in. Every part of the club that could be filled was filled. In fact walking around I actually felt the body heat generated from the large amount of people. Now as far as the type of guys that were there, it was a noticeable and different crowd than the regular DC crowd. People were closer to my age mid-twenties, as opposed to early thirties. I did see this one guy who I had seen around when I went to Ballys, and had a crush on ever since. So I stepped to him, respectfully, and got rejected respectfully, aww well. But I did meet some other folks at the Edge/Wet, and ran into some of my bros. All in all it was a good time had by all. Oh, before I forget let me recant this one incident that happened while at the club.
So there I am on the outdoor plank where they were playing soca and that real reggage, the type that sounds completely foreign because they are speaking that deep patois. There I am dancing with a few guys, you know nothing special. Then I start dancing with this one guy, I’ll call him NJ, who is really doin’ the damn thing. Me being the dancer that I am, anything you try to do to me I can take it and dish more out. About the second or third dance with NJ he starts to really grind on my crotch and then he backs off it for a second. After doing this he re-positions his hands on my waist to brace himself, I thought. But then his hands keep moving closer, closer, and closer to my manhood. Then NJ gets BOLD as all HELL!!!! He grabs my dick, unzippered my pants, puts his hand and start squeezing my dick, unbuckles his pants and puts his bare ass against my dick. While all this was going on, I kept thinking, this is how the brothas in NJ do, let me find out.
I didn’t do anything on Saturday, but Sunday night I went out to the Fireplace and met some friends who were killing time there before going to see Dawn Robinson formerly of En Vogue, and Letoya Luckett formerly of Destiny’s Child. I met a few people at the fireplace, and just left it at that I mean nothing serious b/c it was pride and I was there strictly to flirt.
There is a lot of discussion as to the real purpose of Prides, are they a means for men to satisfy their ravenous sexual desires for deviancy while attaining a certain level of anonymity. Or are they a vehicle for networking, self-affirmation, and to a certain degree self healing? Unfortunately nothing in life, including Prides, is ever clear cut enough to be answered simplistically.