Helsinki Pride 2014

Saturday. Waiting for the parade to begin.

As usual, I participated in Helsinki Pride. I did end up missing a couple of the events I intended to attend, but the opening ceremony on Monday and the parade on Saturday are the most important in any case. Perhaps next year I'll manage to go to the bubble party.

Pride week is important to me not only because of my values, but also because I can reach that inexplicable sense of belonging. I'm a bisexual oddball who has felt more or less like an outsider for most of her life; this one week in June is one of the things that makes it okay.

What incensed many of us during Pride is the fact that the Legal Affairs Committee — one of the many committees in the Parliament — turned down the bill for gender neutral marriage. Thanks a lot, arseholes. However, the matter will still come in front of the Parliament sometime during the autumn, so not all is lost. We might get there within the next couple of years.

Anyway...want to know something amazing? We were 20,000 strong on Saturday. The people were definitely voting with their feet.

All of the photos are from Saturday, because I was a fail-kitty and sadly neglected to take any during the other events. Well, any worth sharing. I do, however, intend to retrace the route we took on the Rainbow City Walk (touring some of the important places in the LGBT history of Helsinki) and snap away, especially towards the end. And then snap a few (dozen) unrelated shots because Embassies and villas and... I just have an appreciation for architecture, okay.

Photos. Yes.

♥

Beware! A homosexual might treat or perform surgery on you!

Mr. Floral McSassypants. He noticed I was photographing him, so he struck a pose. Then we gave each other a smile and a thumbs-up. wh00t for random short connections.

The parade always ends at a park, where we then sit and listen to performers and see what goodies participating organisations have brought with them. As you can see, there were loads of people.

Artsy picture is artsy.