Have you ever taken a family member to a Pride parade before?
Most of the Prides during my life have happened in Portland, Maine where I lived from 2001 to 2013. Every year on Father's Day weekend, southern Mainers spread their celebration between Downtown Portland and the beaches of Ogunquit. The early years had the phenomenal Portland Pride Pier Dance, but poor planning let that tradition die.
It never crossed my mind to bring a family relative to a Pride celebration and I don't think they had any interest. Maybe if one of them was a fellow LGBTer, then maybe it would be fun, but everyone was busy celebrating Dad's Day.
This year, it's a different type of Pride for one Newfoundland family. In the most eastern town in North America, an uncle and a nephew will be marching in their first Pride parade.
Nearly half a century after realizing he's gay [at 13], Paddy Healey of St. John's has decided to come out to family and friends. And to mark the occasion, he'll be marching in the city's Pride parade for the first time — with his nephew by his side.
It won't be a first just for Healey, 60; his nephew Stephen Dunn — a well-known filmmaker now living in Toronto — will also be marching for the first time.
"I had no idea that we had so much in common," Dunn told CBC's St. John's Morning Show on Friday.
"It's been a bit hard for him, and I decided to come home for the Pride parade this year to take Paddy so we could go together. I'm really excited about it." – cbc.ca
Healey said his mother told him she always knew, but that he never spoke openly about it with his family.
Dunn, however, has always been open about his sexual orientation. One of his films, Closet Monster, is about a gay high school student trying to figure out his place in the world. "For me, coming out, it was just knowing there were other people out there, that there is a community of people that were just like us," he said. "You don't feel so alone. It's been a bit hard for him, and I decided to come home for the Pride parade this year to take Paddy so we could go together. I'm really excited about it."
Let us know ow it went guys! The parade was at 1PM today.
h/t: cbc.ca