By Marsha H. Levine–
A big birthday year and a 40-year celebration of an organization culminated with an incredible travel year wrapped up in Pride, since I last wrote about—for the San Francisco Bay Times—my 2022 travels to Prague and Vienna. This journey happened during Prague Pride’s week-long festivities and human rights conference, and included my observations regarding the old Jewish history of both cities. It was sort of a dual discovery trip on what I viewed as a possible once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and my travels have continued.
InterPride Trip to Guadalajara
Two-and-a-half months later, I went to Guadalajara with over 150 of my friends and associates for the 40th Annual General Meeting & World Conference for InterPride, a nonprofit networking and information-sharing organization that I founded in 1982 while living in Boston. The idea initially behind it was simple and unassuming: likeminded folks who organized Pride would get together to discuss issues and commonalities, as well as help each other grow and learn skills. Who would have imagined that four decades later it would still be going strong and have a vast international membership?
The team from Guadalajara Pride, led by former InterPride Vice President of Global Outreach and Partnership Management, Emmanuel Temores, along with Andrea Covarrubias, arranged one of the best experiences by combining a lot of regional flair and flavors with the business at hand. Arriving a day early, and spending three days afterward sightseeing and exploring, a few of the San Francisco Pride crew and I got to experience another country and culture.
I firmly believe exposure to that which you do not find the same or usual opens you up to growth and better understanding. We took a trip to one of the local markets, taking in all the sights and sounds. During the conference, many of the post-day events had evening activities at historic or popular venues that featured dance, music, songs, and rituals different from what we might know or practice.
One such event was our scholarship reception, where we meet and greet those who received a grant to come attend the conference. Most of our recipients are from places and Pride organizations where either geography or financial issues present an obstacle, and our funding gives them an opportunity to bring their message forward, as well as learn how we can help each other, and how they might be able to bring these skills and experience home. It was held at the Museum Cabañas, a beautiful 18th century converted orphanage and hospital that is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
As we arrived shortly before sunset, the low building fronted a massive city-block plaza and the pale stone picked up the dusk shadowing. Up a wide staircase, we walked through the main entry, and were greeted by a courtyard with a bell tower set with chairs and small round tables, arranged in groups to view a “stage” set up upon another stair landing. It was a pretty dramatic venue with all the tiny lights and candles in the middle of all this history, on a wonderfully balmy night.
First to perform was a troupe of Aztec dancers, much like what I have experienced when I have gone to the Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebrations in the Latinx areas of San Francisco and Oakland, so that was familiar, and as always, a delight. Next came some Jarabe Tapatío dancers, which many recognize—dancers dressed in dresses with voluminous skirts that can be whirled and swirled colorfully, and men dressed in fitted suits with sombrero hats. There was a drag queen or two, and some caballero-themed song and dancing, before we finally got to hear introductory speeches and acknowledgements. Toward the end, we cut a multi-layered cake with a big 40 on top that had been precariously leaning starboard as the evening progressed.
With several workshops each day for the next three days, many caucuses, and some passionate business meetings of the organization, the conference concluded just in time for Halloween and the Day of the Dead celebrations. Needing a break from the intensive conference, we got a car for a drive out to the Zona Arqueológica Teuchitlán o Guachimontones, about 45 minutes or so west of Guadalajara, past the bluish agave fields of Jalisco’s Tequila Valley. We drove through the small village of Teuchitlán, part of a culture that existed more than 2,300 years ago and up into the foothills extending to nearby quiet volcanoes.
It was an easy hike to the concentric circles that formed the larger central pyramid surrounded by several platform ruins. All were dry-stone constructs neatly placed next to each other in perfect fit without the use of mortar or wattle. There are a few theories about what the meaning is of the configuration: some say celestial; one theorized they were communal and used for ceremonial purposes. All told, it seems mostly to be about community.
How interesting that this theme intersects from those ancient times to the present day, when you consider the conference we had just attended was of a similar vein. We work together toward common goals, with our chosen family, building together and celebrating together.
After exploring for a bit, we returned to Teuchitlán and checked out the narrow, cobblestoned streets with their small crumbling, old stone buildings, pausing to take a break in in the zocalo—the central park—decorated with all sorts of banners, flowers, signs, murals, art, and papel picado (those paper decorations with cut-out designs) flying in the gentle breeze. The village was getting ready for celebrating the departed souls and memories of ancestors. When I was about high school age, I had read about the Day of the Dead celebrations in Mexico and longed to see it in authenticity … now I was finally living it!
The next day, we took a tour and spent the afternoon in Tlaquepaque. Founded in 1530, it was a prehispanic town originally inhabited by the Tonalteca Indians before being conquered by Spainards. With the spread of Guadalajara in modern times, it is now considered a neighborhood of the city, and is famous for its art and crafts. It was also highly decorated for the Day of the Dead, which was being celebrated that day. We wandered in and out of shops, had a lovely lunch, and bought a few souvenirs to remember out trip before heading home the next morning.
It is easy to see parallels between Pride and communities of the past, and how experience brings understanding, tolerance, growth, and can change perspective. This is why I believe the InterPride conferences taking place in other cities and countries are both crucial and critical to the change we wish to make, even when confronted with those who tilt against us.
WorldPride Trip to Sydney, Australia
Little did I realize that, four months later, I would make yet another journey. It was a last-minute decision; I think I bought my ticket 36 hours before I left. The destination was Sydney, Australia, for the 2023 WorldPride Human Rights Conference and an almost lifelong dream to be in the Sydney Mardi Gras Parade. About 15 years ago, I saw a documentary about Sydney Mardi Gras: its planning, and then footage of the nighttime parade. I was highly fascinated. By that time, I had been part of the Pride movement for more than 20 years, and the idea of seeing floats with lights seemed like a dream I would never witness. Even when I helped coordinate the LovElution Parade several years ago, which started at dusk before ending at a nearby pier as darkness fell, it never matched the exuberance I’d seen in that film.
Fourteen hours later, I arrived in Sydney, on United Airline’s inaugural “Pride Flight” too wide awake to sleep and looking all around me as we made our way to our temporary home for several days. I already knew so much of what to expect—a large downtown waterfront, the Opera House, neighborhoods, and I had memorized a list of regional foods to try! I took the first day to explore locally before all the activities would occupy almost every evening. So, off I went to the grocery store to stock some snacks in the fridge and make sure there was plenty of herbal tea. Priorities! And a bit of getting in some orientation.
Nguyen Pham, San Francisco Pride’s Board President, and I were staying together in a small suite in Surray Hills, a neighborhood not far from downtown Sydney that is the LGBTQ+ center of the city. We stuck to dinner locally that first night, right in the hotel, where I was able to cross the first item off my cuisine bucket list: a passionfruit and mango pavlova, the dessert they brought us for his birthday. Now, I’ve had pavlovas before, made by very talented culinary friends, but I’d had no idea until I Googled several articles that pavlovas were special to Australia. Thus, having one while there was important to me. By the time I fell asleep that night, it was still difficult for me to believe I was actually half-way around the world and in a different country. I was a bit overwhelmed.
A day or two later, it was time to get ready for the Sydney Mardi Gras Parade, their Pride event. Celebrating 45 years since their first one, and amplified by WorldPride being hosted by their city, the parade was electric in more ways than one! Nguyen and I were invited to join the Chicago float, coordinated by Chicago Pridefest chairperson, Mark Liberson. In custom costumes made by, I believe, the Chicago Bears team, Nguyen and about a dozen others danced their choreographed way along the long route, while I got to ride on the float wearing a poncho of pastel glittering, long, rectangular paillettes that was so completely heavy, my arms hurt from waving at the crowd under the burden of it. Item #2 crossed off a different bucket list!
I was somewhat normalizing to my surroundings at this point, as many of my friends I had just seen in Mexico last autumn were now here, in what was our late winter/early spring in America, but the end of a warm Sydney summer. Here was yet another conference where we were rushing off to workshops, panels, presentations, when not hanging out at the InterPride exhibit area or up at the InterPride Hub near Oxford Street. I had not been to a WorldPride during the last 23 years, so this experience was a bit new to me, while old hat to my other associates. So, I mostly followed their lead, happy to trail along, with occasional forays out on my own when not helping guests place sticky gems on a world map, to show where they were from, or watching as Michelle Meow and others did some interviews for the InterPride’s InterPod podcast show.
Michelle and her wife, Tookta, had arrived a couple of days after Nguyen and I, and we all moved to an odd little “terrace” house as it is called, what we might call a row house in America. A short foyer led across a “bridge” to a small floating living room that overlooked the subfloor kitchen and dining area, featuring a stage that hid an arcing bathroom/laundry area. Above it was a circular ceiling-like fixture with plants, which Michelle said had drains or maybe jets, and she thought it was a hot tub of sorts, though none of us could figure how people would get into it, because the only “door” to it was a glass roof that parted and then you’d have to drop down several feet. Needless to say, we did not experiment. The original building foundation evident in the kitchen was made of carved pink-beige sandstone blocks, a common foundation for mid-1800s construction, and locally sourced. And though the outside could have been period, the inside was totally redone and modern. We were now in the next neighborhood over, called Darlinghurst, which was also known to be very LGBTQ+. As if to confirm that, I found a single, detached crystal bead and a few flakes of glitter on the sofa cushion, probably from the previous guests.
But, so much for digressing with housing details. For WorldPride, there was an opening concert with Kylie Minogue, with her sister Dannii making a special appearance, along with Robyn and Jessie J also performing at an outdoor setting called the Domain. There were lots of receptions at bar, hotels, and other venues, including the Sydney Town Hall that is also made of the local sandstone that underlies much of the area. This Victorian era building is an ornate establishment of stone, brick, and cedar timber. Coming out of her office, the Lord Mayor Clover Moore greeted InterPride members from Prides around the world, and some local LGBTQ+ activists. On another day, at Bondi Beach, there was a massive beach party featuring Ava Max, then a closing concert back at Domain, with singer Kelly Rowland. It was like a Pride Parade and Celebration times ten!
With just two days left before heading home, I thought I’d be able to take in some of the sights, becoming a regular tourist, so I went out and sat in the sun near the water, crossing off two more on my dish list: Moreton “bugs,” also known as “slipper” lobsters (they are much smaller crustaceans) and a dessert of burnt Basque cheesecake with an espresso that finished all the food adventures for this trip. On my last full day, I took a 2-hour tour of Sydney, my one chance to do any sightseeing.
Arriving home, I had time to reflect on my trip. Much of the conference I attended had many elements of discussion or presentation from those indigenous to Australia, or from other locations around the world where it is not easy, and often not safe, to be openly LGBTQ+. This was comparable to what I had learned in Prague about the difference between living in what is still, largely, a free America, as opposed to living under the thumb of conservatives, Communists, and the religious as they often do in the Eastern bloc. With many seeking to erase and restrict our communities, it makes for a scary and life-threatening reality. It has only been in recent years that the U.S. has been awash in a wave of turning back time and reversing some of the strides we have made toward equality. We could learn from those who live with the focus of a looking glass upon them. We might have to if restrictive laws continue getting passed.
Ancient cultures fought to be free and sometimes wound up conquered, colonized, scattered, or decimated. This is history repeating itself, a lesson we seem to need to keep learning over and over. And while Pride might be, for some, just a party, for those of us who organize Pride events, it’s a chance to unite people—whether they feel alone in some rural part of Kentucky or live in a major metropolitan city. Pride can send a message, share a purpose, educate the uninformed, and spread love. So, let’s keep Pride going in San Francisco, and everywhere else around the world. We need it.
Marsha H. Levine (she/they/ey) is the Community Relations Manager at San Francisco Pride, of which they have been a consistent member for more than 37 years. Levine also founded InterPride, the International Association of LGBTQ+ Pride Coordinators, in October 1982, and currently serves as one of their Vice Presidents of Global Outreach & Partnership Management.
Traveling with Pride
Published on July 13, 2023
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