Wave your hands in the air because you’re a Bear, strut your Daddy junk because you just don’t care!That’s right, Daddy Lovers – Pride season is upon us! Now I am sure there are a lot of you, like myself, who have gone a few times, but not always. The last time Daddy Jeffrey went to Pride was around 5 years ago and it was a brief excursion. I went with a friend who got us passes (meaning we did not have to pay to get into the festival) to see Olivia Newton-John perform. That experience was brief – I met my friend at the gate, we got our passes, went in, watched her and left immediately after. Yes, that was my last and most favorite Pride experience in quite some time.
Well, I am headed there this year to march in the parade – because I was asked nice and twice. This got me thinking, though – how do my fellow Bears and Daddies feel at this sort of event? Is there a reason we choose not to attend unless there is a great headliner?
Hmm…I thought, let’s talk about Daddy/Bear Pride, shall we?
Pride is everywhere now and it is almost like a circuit party type thing, with the goal being to try and attend as many parties as one can possibly cram in. Well, first off, that is really for the boys to do. I mean, honestly – isn’t that something you did in your 20’s? As Daddies we need to check it and not wreck it, and I know you get what I am just sayin’. I mean, really, how attractive is it being a man of knowledge and experience when you are still acting like you just had your first orgasm?
Which brings me to what Pride is, actually. Pride was originally started by people much older than a lot of my current peers. Not that I am a historian of any stature, but I would venture to say the seed was planted at the Stonewall movement. (OK, all you Judy Garland disciples, say hey!)
To me, when I first went as a 20-something, freshly out and exploring life as a tadpole, it was an amazing experience and still held weight in terms of human rights and politics. I remember the exhilaration of being there with my first, sexy, boyfriend, who was 11 years my senior (that’s right, I was a Daddy’s Boy before I was a Daddy, get over it!) as well as my best (not out yet) female friend and seeing political figures who had made a difference for us as a community, locally and nationally. One of those figures, sadly to say, is now simply a media whore and not much else. (Gloria Allred…Yes, Gloria, you once stood for something but now you stand for greed, like most everything anymore.)Which brings me to the reason we Daddy Bears may feel a little hesitant about our local Pride festival. Do we as intelligent, thinking beings fit in? What is in it for us other than $20 admissions to see done “divas” (except you, my dear Olivia), booths that want you to spend even more money, drunk & drugged out circuit boys and $5 beers? Seriously, it has lost it’s original meaning somewhat. I remember one year when I towed my above mentioned not out yet female friend, who was now out at this point, to check out headliner Joan Jett (with the amazing Terri Nunn and Berlin beforehand). We saw a stumbling lesbian fall down near the porta-potties and toss her cookies! Her friends fed us some line of BS about her having too much to drink, yet we both looked into their glassy eyes and knew it was something she had ingested that she could not quite handle.
Daddy Jeffrey has also spotted the shooting of a bullet from one person to the next going in and out of those smelly portable urinals as well. Now I am not a prude (duh, I do porn), but hasn’t the vision of what this season is all about gotten lost?
It is time for the Daddies and the Bears to reclaim what Pride is! It’s about our community and being proud of who we are. Yes, I understand certain behaviors are a part of our community, but when vodka and beer are primary sponsors of something, well…
You get the point, let’s get some Daddy/Bear Pride going! Let’s be proud of our experience and who we are and not try to be part of what is now a money making, corporate machine like everything else. Our experience, maturity and struggle should be more honored than that. While I am not saying there is nothing good about these festivals (a nod to Olivia, Joan & Terri), I am saying the focus has been off for years!
As a Daddy I will be your Grand Marshall and lead the way…in fact, my marching in this year’s Pride has nothing to do with me or porn, it has everything to do with one Ms.Margaret Cho. She is one of the greatest advocates of our community and I am marching with her in honor of her receiving The Morris Kight Lifetime Achievement Award for work that has left a lasting imprint on the LGBT Community.
This is one of the reasons Pride does still matter. So Bears and Daddies, be proud of your age and experience – follow my lead, and rock out with your cock out for everyone to see!
Enjoy Pride Month!
Daddy Jeffrey
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