GLBT Pride Parade 2001!

We did it again! We marched in the Gay Pride Parade - June 24th, 2001! Many of you joined us, our banners and bubbling cauldron as we walked down Hennepin avenue to cheers and applause! It was quite an afternoon and we stood side-by-side with thousands of others to say that we support Gays, Lesbians, Bisexuals and Transgendered people in their lives and spirituality.

We were very pleased to have Margaret's husband, Ed Eastman, take these wonderful photographs and march alongside us on our trek down Hennepin Avenue. Ed is neither Pagan nor a member of the GLBT community, but he's a courageous, talented and kind man who stood by our side as we travelled! Thank you, Ed ... we here at the W.I.N. officially designate you our Honorary Gay Pagan! <smile>

The last thing I'd like to mention is an event that really made our day... While we got incredible response from the crowd, many of whom would see us and shout out things like "Cool! It's the Witches!", they really made us feel good and proud by their actions when we encountered the only protester at this 100,000+ person event. He was standing along the route with a big sign that condemned homosexuality based upon his interpretation of Christian scripture. As soon as we came into view, he began chanting "Witches Burn In Hell ... Burn In Hell, Witches".

Well, the crowd would have nothing of that and came to our defense immediately! While I doubt many of them were Pagans, they saw us supporting them and immediately began chanting and singing their own songs to drown out the chanting protester. Waving their small "Pride" signs about, they even blocked out the message of intollerance on the big sign! How cool is that?!! Once we realized what had happened, I don't think we felt tired or weary for the rest of the day!

...And THAT'S what Pride is all about...

Official GLBT Pride Site

This is the route we took: