7 Tips to Ensure a Successful Pride Weekend

  1. Hold the rally in the most stunning, invigorating and empowering space possible. Ideal: run the event along the length of a pier jutting out into the Hudson River atp-esb-pride-2013nd neighbored by the iconic buildings of New York’s downtown—most notably (and aptly named), the Freedom Tower.
  2. Sell merchandise that earns money, advertises for the cause and is too adorable to turn down. Bonus points for rainbow-coloured rain streaming from an animated, lovable storm cloud.
  3. Speaking of storm clouds, if you could possibly arrange this, make a worthwhile deal with Mother Nature to have it rain lightly for the first few performances, only to create a massive, epic and extremely fitting rainbow that will consume the entire sky. Expect SERIOUS excitement and escalated cheering.
  4. In terms of the choirs/comedians/speakers/solo artists you decide to fill the program with, remember—variety is key. Mix things up; follow a crude comedian who overuses the word cock with a recent high school graduate telling his courageous, public coming-out story.
  5. Give a shout out to the straight folks in the crowd! They love that, and feel even more special and welcomed to this cause that is all about passion, equality and diversity. Plus this will help future LGBTQ activists in the constant struggle to permanently remove the barrier  between the homo- and hetero-sexual community, the first major step that must happen before there is true respect and acceptance of all sexual orientations.
  6. Bring out the drag queens. And Gaga. Pull out all the stops and do everything in your power to make this the event of the weekend, and a fabulous cause to support.
  7. Be a commanding presence in one of the most vibrant, progressive cities in the world. March down all parts of town, embrace the wacky outfits and wavepride the Pride flag proudly. This is your moment, celebrate it!! Especially when 4 days prior, SCOTUS struck down DOMA (ahhh!).

Happy Pride!

3 thoughts on “7 Tips to Ensure a Successful Pride Weekend

  1. Here’s one more . . . start performing same sex marriages on Friday and keep city hall open all weekend. Weddings and Pride and lots of (happy) tears. It’s hard to beat that.

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