June 7-9, 2025

This was a jam-packed weekend but also a cathartic one. Almost all of it was focused on attending World Pride/Capitol Pride on both Saturday and Sunday. It started by not only attending my first Pride march but also marching alongside one of the groups as a volunteer. It's actually deceptive how long a march can be since you start off thinking that two miles is nothing but then as you're doing it, time both accelerates and decelerates significantly. If you ever want to experience time dilation in person, just be part of a march.

The festival itself was great, since it was mostly vendors and groups doing promotion and handing out free shit. The food options were a little dodgy, primarily overpriced carnival fare save for a few unique food trucks. Overall, it was a giant street carnival with blistering heat on Saturday and constant rain for Sunday.

The more important thing that occurred during this time at the festival was helping maintain the trans remembrance memorial put on by the Glitter Foundation Utah. I'm not quite ready to provide more details about this (TDOR is an important issue for me but I want to give it its proper due in November) but I was grateful to be out there to do my part in making sure the memorial stayed up and untampered, especially as so many people came over and got to experience it appropriately. The people memorialized were often killed just trying to live their lives honestly and as best they could. It's both sad and sickening that there are others out there who can't simply let people just be and feel some perverse need to extinguish lives for such meaningless reasons. As my partner pointed out to several attendees when they asked about the flags, many of the dead listed would've at Pride with glitter and dancing, celebrating that they were still alive.

Photo I took of the trans remembrance memorial on June 8, 2025

And that's always been the point of Pride: It's people celebrating that they get to be alive and with their chosen loved ones without needing to constantly dread the next day. It's a time to be hopeful and enjoy a well-earned breath of fresh air. - A.B. 6/9/25

"Pride to me is a celebration of our vibrant, colorful community and a political statement of strength and solidarity. Despite attempts to silence us, dehumanize us, and even criminalize us, we clap back with a powerful loud and proud Pride Parade and celebration that love wins every time."

- Sister Roma

P.S. So I finally got to hear Doechii for the first time, surprisingly while she was performing in the distance as I was helping strike down the memorial. She's... fine, I guess. I'm nowhere close to her target demographic and it's was cool having her as background music but I wasn't super enthralled either. I was trying to think of a good album for this post and the best I got was So Jealous by Tegan and Sara (2004), which is one of my spouse's favorites. I might check out Doechii again at some point but I might be officially Too Old for her work...