LA Pride

this was written by Mickey as we were driving from LA to Sf, a 5 hour journey on our fabulous PRIUS..... (just for those interested, a full tank brought us from SF to LA and another full tank - about $30, brought us back.....)

Los Angeles Pride 2007
by Mickey Lim, VP Out4Immigration

Amos and I drove to Los Angeles to join Chris and Doug for the West Hollywood annual Pride Parade, so a majority of the Board members were able to march. We arrived on Friday evening, and Chris was was so kind to put us up in his office in his apartment. Thank you Chris! I am writing this in the car, as we head back to San Francisco. Amos is driving, and I hope he doesn't go out of his mind. I-5 thru the central valley is so incredibly booring.

Saturday afternoon, Amos and I played tourist for a few hours and went to Griffith Park to the Observatory. We had our Out4Immigration stickers on our tee-shirts, and as we arrived at the base of the road to the observatory, we were greeted by a traffic monitor. he told us that you're no longer allowed to drive up to the observatory. We asked the fellow how then to get up to the observatory. He told us about a back trail that we could hike up. He viewed us suspiciously, and pointed at the sticker on my tee-shirt. “Immigration ... does that mean that you're for it or against it?” I looked up at him, and smiled. “Out4Immigration means that I'm for it.” He sighed with relief and gave me a big smile. “You never know these days,” he said I reached into my pocket and gave him a Out4Immigration flyer. He greatfully accepted it. We parked the car and hiked up the back trail. It was a fun and interesting distraction.

Doug is in UCLA MBA program, and he is the middle of finals and had a Saturday Final. We were able to meet up with him in the evening, when we pooled the materials together for the next day. Conveniently located ½ block from Hamburger Mary's, we walked from his apartment to up to have a bite for dinner, and to share a pitcher of Margaretta's. We chatted up a bit too long, but it was great to catch up with Doug. Since I had to work in San Francisco Monday morning, we planned to leave as soon as the parade was over. With that in mind, we had to get back to West Hollywood early enough to get a good parking spot. Chris, Amos and I went back to Chris's apt in North Hollywood. We never hit the sack until 1AM. 6AM, therefore came very early.

Everything went well, we had a good and energetic turnout. Doug took control of the bull horn, and lead the crowds in chants. “2-4-6-8 Let our partners Immigrate.” “You can't sponsor your foreign mate – Not for gays – Only Straights.”

We passed out stickers and “GREEN CARD's” along the way. All of the “GREEN CARD's” were a hit with the crowd lining the street, and we could not pull off stickers fast enough. Amos fell way behind the contingent because the crowd would not let him get by with out him giving them stickers!! By the end of the parade, all the stickers and “GREEN CARD's” that we'd brought with us were gone. The GREEN CARD's are so distinctively easy to recognize, that I was actually looking to see if I could see them on the ground as we were making our way back to the starting point, where the car was parked. I saw only about a half dozen! I will be very interested to see how many hits to our website we have in the next few days, and how many go the next step to join the list serve.

Interestingly, among the warm cheering crowds, there was a small but very perceptable level of hostility that I was not used to from the many years that I've marched in San Francisco. I recall how it was like that 10 years ago, but over the years, we've helped to change and shape the perceptions so that there has been overwhelming warm enthusiastic responses as we march down Market Street. I am curious to see the comparison to San Francisco Pride in two weeks. We hope to see as many of our old friends as possible.