A handful of Gay Pride celebrations have already taken place this year, and several more prominent ones are set for the remaining weekends in May, starting this weekend with the increasingly well-attended Belgium Gay Pride held in that country's charming capital, Brussels, and featuring a Pride Village with different themed communities (Leather, Bears, Latinos, families, and so on); and Northampton Gay Pride, which takes place slightly later than in previous years in the ruggedly beautifully Pioneer Valley of central-western Massachusetts, in a bustling college town that also abounds with fun shopping, hip restaurants, and gay-friendly bars and music clubs.
The following weekend, May 19 and 20, sees the largest such U.S. celebration of the month, the famed Long Beach Gay Pride, which I blogged about recently in relation to the big GLBT party taking place on the city's historic Queen Mary ocean liner. This weekend is also the first time that Oklahoma City Gay Pride will be taking place in May, having moved to a new time this year and forming an entire Pride weekend with the Oklahoma Gay Rodeo Association's annual Great Plains Rodeo, held the following weekend.
Another spring-time event that's smaller than some but has become extremely popular with folks from New York City to Philadelphia to Washington, DC, the friendly and fun New Hope Gay Pride, in the leafy Bucks County, PA town on the Delaware River, holds its celebration on May 19. For links to other Gay Pride Festivals taking place the rest of May (including Dusseldorf, New York's Hudson Valley, and Moscow), check out the spring Pride calendar.
Hi, last week there was the Belgian Pride event in Brussels. Belgian prime minister and several politicians were present as well. The event that marked this years festivities was the killing of a gay person by beating just a few days before the event. Belgium used to be a very gay friendly country but recently violence against gays raised some questions. Peace…