that parade

Well, Jan & I drove down to Riverside station, the very last spot on the Green “D” Line of the MBTA (“And he never returned. No, he never returned…”) We parked, paid our three dollar and seventy five cent parking fee, only to learn the train is off line for construction. So, already committed by our three dollar and seventy five cent investment, we piled onto a bus and followed a track the bus driver, obviously an old hand but also obviously driving this route for the first time, gradually took us to the Fenway station (with numerous stops) where we climbed onto the train and eventually made it to the Copley Square station. We climbed up the stairs to that magnificent spot where Boston Public Library and Trinity Church look out across the way at each other, and proceeded to walk down Dartmouth to Tremont and to the spot in the waiting parade for the First Unitarian Society in Newton’s spot in the line.

Apparently it began to pour out in Newton. But, a scant ten or fifteen miles away, it never got worse than some billowing mist. Actually, weatherwise, one of the more pleasant parades in my recent memory. (Last year it poured! We looked like drowned cats at the end. And the year before it was blisteringly hot!) Our dozen or so FUSN UUs were joined by several Zendoids as we marched, one in pretty full Buddhist regalia to match my Western-style clerical collar. Our “float,” a UHaul pickup truck dressed up, is now with the fourth year, beginning to actually look like a float, was packed to the rafters with children. The bubble guns were a major hit with the kids and the crowd…

We took the new route. And it all was a delight.

I understand, as mentioned in the previous post, that the governor joined the parade, the first sitting governor in the Commonwealth’s history to join a Gay Pride Parade.

Lots of buzz about the Constitutional Convention. Vote counters say the anti-gay marriage contingent have the one quarter of the legislators plus a couple that it will take to force the measure onto the ballot. But my knowledgeable friends say there are quite a few of that number who want to publicly bluster on behalf of current constituency but privately would be more than happy for a maneuver that allows them not to vote against the roar of history.

Of course, polls also say that should the measure go on the ballot, a solid majority of the good citizens of Massachusetts are not going to vote to take marriage away from a minority. But, of course, that would be an ugly fight with lots of out of state money coming in blistering the airwaves with serious unpleasantness. And one never knows how it’ll all actually turn out.

So, the day is over, and now it’s time to send a note to a local politician…