Gay Pride in Madrid

I have been avoiding doing this entry, as I just wasn't feeling Gay Pride this year. Chalk it up to too many Gay Prides in San Francisco, or my disillusionment with the gay community. Maybe throw in a little soul searching about what it means to be gay and a little older - not a good combination. So, I dragged my ass out to the gay pride celebration, even going so far as to don my psychedelic rainbow shirt to perhaps nudge me into the spirit a bit (did not work, but nice try).

Fake Smile, Cheesy Rainbow Shirt

I took the metro to the stop nearest the beginning of the parade at around 7 p.m. The parade officially started at around 6 p.m., LATE in typical Spanish fashion. I guess marching in the mid-day heat would lead to casualties, so it's probably good that they started late. Not so good for photo ops, but life is a series of give and take, right? As soon as I came out of the metro and saw all of the shiny happy people, my mood changed. NOT jubilant, but happy and ready to spend the evening with my thousands of newfound friends.

Marchers Amass in Plaza de Cibeles

The route of the parade (called "manifestación" in Spanish, I love it), was gorgeous. It started a the Puerta de Alcala and through Plaza Cibeles onward to Gran Via and ended up in Plaza de España. The weather was a perfect scorching summer day, still 100 degrees at 7 p.m. I don't think the mass of people helped, either. Organizers said that the turnout was 1.5 million. I searched for more official estimates, but it looked like the bigger news outlets used the same number. There were A LOT of people, though, I can verify that :)

Masses Marching Up Calle de Alcala

I was confused as to what exactly was supposed to happen. At first I thought "manifestación" meant march, but I later found that it meant "parade", I guess, because they had floats, just like in the U.S. of A. At the beginning, it was just masses of people from different organizations. I followed this troupe through the streets, stopping to snap pictures here and there along the way.

Passing the Metropolis Building

Instilling Order with Furry Handcuffs

As the parade progressed, I began to notice that this was the straightest gay pride I'd ever seen. I'd say that seriously half or at least a third of the people watching the parade were hetero. I could be wrong, because I have had trouble telling gay from straight here in the past, but there were many obviously straight couples and singles joining in the fun. I guess it's not surprising, as some of the gay bars in the gay ghetto of Chueca are about 50/50 on any given day, as well. That was one of the first things that kind of surprised me when I arrived. I mean, in the U.S., the gays are sort of watched as a source of culture and fashion, and it's hip to be cool with gay people, but here, they're like living out loud and proud right along with them!

I've spoken to a few of my Spanish gay friends here, and one said that it's very fashionable to be gay right now in Spain. Another said that he thinks the straights attended the parade to observe the gays, like monkeys in the zoo. Whatever the reason, many straights were whooping it up alongside the gays, with almost no visible tension.

I have lived in San Francisco for the past 9 years, and when there are festivals in SF, people get DECKED OUT. I've also been to Burning Man two times, which is arguably the most creative festival in the world. Coming from this background, nothing is really shocking anymore in the costume category, but I found a few Madrileños who definitely went the extra mile.

Hideous Drag Done Right

Check Out the Platforms on This Queen

Touched by Angels

Not Really Sure Where They're Going with This

When I finally made it to the end of the parade route, I was tired and grumpy and the entire crowd seemed to have lost it's zip. All the floats had stopped and there were people on stage in Plaza de España trying to rile everyone up, but it just wasn't working. About that time, this amazing flamenco singer came on, and everyone started singing along with her. Then, the rest of the floats showed up after like 30 minutes of dead time. Of course, they were all the party floats with the studs and babes on them. Apparently, they just can't be rushed. The crowd went WILD.

One of the first floats of the new wave featured Sabrina Sabrok, an actress, model, and singer who recently had her breasts augmented again (20 surgeries later) in an attempt to break the Guinness world record for largest augmented breasts. What she has to do with gay pride, I'm not so sure. Maybe just to show that nothing is too over the top for the world's gays... not even breasts the size of Texas. Here's my photo...

Sabrina Sobrok Still

...and here's a video I found on YouTube...

Sabrina Sobrok In Action

I was close enough to almost touch those breasts, and all I can say is that anything stretched that tight, just ain't right.

Then came the string of floats with the hyper-masculine men dancing to turbo-charged techno music. I like to call these guys the A Gays. You know them, they have the perfect gym-toned body, a gorgeous boyfriend, and matching car to go with it all. They're constantly jet-setting off to Ibiza for a club weekend or taking a gay cruise in the Caribbean. Everything is an accessory for the A Gays, so beware if you're friends with one. I actually consider myself a B+ Gay, as I've been able to pass as A Gay on occasion, but really, I'm just not quite perfect enough, and if you talk to me, it all falls apart, because I'm like REAL, and my tan comes from the sun and stuff. Bitter? Maybe.

I think they actually imported A Gays from the rest of Europe for Madrid's pride event, because I've never seen so many muscle queens in my entire life. The whole city was overrun with them the week before pride, and then when these floats start coming down the street, I'm like OH, I get it. They need BEEF because it looks good on the floats! And, I must admit, the A Gays do take good photos :) One of the things I have really enjoyed about Madrid is that it's usually really fashionable here for men to be lean. Now I know that the week before Pride is the exception, apparently.

Gaydar Warriors

Another Float Full of Beefcake

Quick Studs, I Guess

Towards the end of the parade, it was really cute to see these two guys come out on their terrace in their underwear and dance while the crowd cheered them on.

Spectator Studs Show Support from Their Terrace

When the parade finished, the entire city center was in complete chaos, like a hurricane had hit or something. Trash everywhere, drunk people running to and fro. Then, suddenly, the street cleaning crews came in with all these machines and made everything pretty again.

Chaos and Cleaning Crews

After the parade, there were 4 different stages with DJ's in different plazas near Chueca, and the streets of Chueca were so packed in some spots that you could barely move. The DJ's played until 3 a.m. and everyone looked like they were having so much fun. During the entire event, I had felt really alone, isolated and lonely, a theme during my time in Madrid. My friend Darcy from the U.S. came down for like an hour and hung out with me, which helped, but then she had to go.

I ended up in Plaza Vazquez de Mella for the last hour or so. I was camped out by this fence near the stage to avoid the constant throngs of people moving from one place to another when this group of people kind of swept in and started partying next to me. They were crazy, but so much fun. One of the guys had his shirt ripped in different places and then tied in knots, kind of Flashdance for the 00's, I guess. Well, this straight rocker guy wearing a Metallic shirt standing nearby started to ask questions about how Flashdance guy got the shirt to rip and tie so perfectly. One of the other crazy gay guys grabbed the rocker's shirt and used his teeth to rip part of the collar away from the rest of the shirt to show him how easy it was. A few minutes later, with a little group effort, the rocker guy had a new collar-less Metallica shirt. He seemed somehow freed by the experience.

Sporting the New Metallica Flashdance Tee

Hanging out with that crazy group for the 30 minutes or so that they were there really made my night. Then, suddenly, they all sort of scattered, and I was back at the fence by myself. I kicked myself for not getting their number or something. BUT, as I mentioned in a blip entry earlier, I ended up running into one of the guys at the airport while cashing AMEX travelers cheques. (I know, what?!) We got together for drinks last week, and he and his friends are soooo fun :)

So, when the DJ finally stopped at 3 a.m., I wandered with the thousands of other delirious souls toward a late night bus. This always happens to me...

1. I go out for a night of fun
   
2. I miss the metro that stops at 1:30 a.m. (C'mon, the bars don't even get hopping until 2 a.m.)
   
3. I know I can't catch a cab, so I decide to either spend an hour on the late-night bus or hang out at a disco (they close at 7 a.m.) or wander the busy downtown streets until the metro starts again at 6 a.m.
   

Anyway, this time, I chose that late-night bus. When I finally got to my house around 4 a.m., I was curious about the official after party that was going until 6 a.m. just one metro stop away from my house at the lake in Casa de Campo park. I decided to go home and see how I felt before making the decision. Of course, I decided I had to go back out again, I could be MISSING something. I had never walked to the lake from my house, but I had walked the opposite way and the next metro stop was just a short hike down a straight road. I expected the same in the other direction. I began to walk down the street and immediately went under this overpass thing and then was on a road in the park. I heard a loud party of high school students off to the left of me in this parking lot, which was oddly comforting, because it was getting darker and quieter the farther into the park I walked. After about 10 minutes, I realized that the overpass I went under was the metro tracks, and I was headed deep into the park, not along the metro route. About this time, I saw a creepy-night-urchin-type person come bursting out of the bushes solo. I tried to act like I knew what I was doing and turned back the way I came. Just about then, I ran into the prostitutes on their way to work.

The lake at Casa de Campo is famous for the prostitutes that frequent the area at all hours of the day and night. One of my students said that he was once on a picnic with his mother in broad daylight, and they saw a prostitute and her john going at it nearby. I have never had the opportunity to see the prostitutes in action, and have even once gone on a very long "hike" trying to see what all the noise was about. I feel kind of cheated, but at least I get to run into them in the park or at my local internet box on occasion.

SO, there was a gang of 4 or 5 African prostitutes coming at me, and I figured why not take the opportunity to get directions from someone who REALLY knows the nooks and crannys of the park? So, I asked them in Spanish, "Can you find the lake this way?" They all started giggling, and one of them said, "No, it can't be found this way, wanna fuck? Let's go." To which they all erupted in uproarious laughter. I just walked away frustrated, but I felt like I had just been accosted or something. Damned ballsy prostitutes at 4:30 in the morning.

ANYWAY, I went back home, coming across the drunk high school students on the way back out. They were at the high school student drunken apex, where all the girls are crying or screaming and all the guys are fighting and chasing each other around. I was soooo glad I wasn't in high school anymore, and glad to be almost home. When I finally got home, the light of dawn was creeping up on the horizon, again...