Gay Pride

As Maryland continues to gear up for a gay marriage question on the ballot this fall, another snack food has taken sides on the issue. Following in the footsteps of Ben & Jerry's gay marriage ice cream flavor , Oreo is showing support for same-sex couples with a rainbow cookie. The "Pride" cookie isn't something people can buy -- at least not yet. Rather, the company released a picture of it Monday on its Facebook page. The rainbow layered Oreo with the tagline "Pride" garnered more than 145,000 likes and nearly 35,000 shares in less than a day. Supporters immediately began campaigning for Oreo to make the icing-heavy creation real, something people could buy and eat. (It would be like extreme Double Stuff with all that icing.)

As Maryland continues to gear up for a gay marriage question on the ballot this fall, another snack food has taken sides on the issue. Following in the footsteps of Ben & Jerry's gay marriage ice cream flavor , Oreo is showing support for same-sex couples with a rainbow cookie. The "Pride" cookie isn't something people can buy -- at least not yet. Rather, the company released a picture of it Monday on its Facebook page. The rainbow layered Oreo with the tagline "Pride" garnered more than 145,000 likes and nearly 35,000 shares in less than a day. Supporters immediately began campaigning for Oreo to make the icing-heavy creation real, something people could buy and eat. (It would be like extreme Double Stuff with all that icing.)

It seemed like a typical summertime festival in Baltimore: the aroma of grilled burgers filled the air while people sat on blankets in the shade and danced to music in the sun.Only this was a little bit different.Here was an event in which gays and lesbians said they could be themselves without fear of harassment or rejection.Several thousand men and women gathered in the grassy Wyman Park yesterday to affirm their sexuality and commemorate their struggle for civil rights at the annual Gay and Lesbian Pride Day festival.

Kinera Royster wants to be known more for her talents than her appearance. "There is more to me than being a man who wears heels and a wig," she said as she sifted through a clothing rack containing 11 garments she designed. Royster, a self-taught designer, showcased her collection of clothes Thursday night at Red Maple in Fashion Alley, an event that featured gay, lesbian, transgender and gay-friendly models and designers. The first ever event in Baltimore served as a kick-off to this weekend's annual Gay Pride celebration.

The gay rights movement is little more than a collection of tactics in search of a goal. Since its beginning, this has been the case.This ''movement'' started 25 years ago when patrons of the Stonewall Inn -- a New York City bar catering to a gay clientele -- spontaneously rioted for two days. The rioters were fed up with their gathering places being randomly raided and with being roughed up by police, taken to the police station and otherwise being treated as second-class citizens merely because of their sexual orientation.

Thousands of gay men and lesbians took their Pride Festival to Towson State University yesterday, marking a change in venue for the annual event from its traditional city location in Wyman Park.The festival was one of the last activities in the Pride 95 weekend, sponsored by the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Baltimore. It followed Saturday's downtown parade and block party and a walk to raise money for AIDS treatment yesterday morning.Organizers expected the Towson festival to draw 10,000 people, and at one point in the afternoon they estimated that as many as 7,000 were there.

ROME - Nearly halfway into the Roman Catholic Church's millennial Holy Year, the nightmares of its organizers - unwieldy crowds, gridlock, terrorism, the sudden collapse of an overworked pope - have yet to come true. But when a group of prelates sat down in the Vatican last month to watch a three-hour video, they perceived a terrible new menace to the yearlong event: an international gay pride festival scheduled to be held here July 1-9. The film, sent by Monsignor William Levada, archbishop of San Francisco, contains news and documentary footage of a 1998 gay parade in his city.

Kinera Royster wants to be known more for her talents than her appearance. "There is more to me than being a man who wears heels and a wig," she said as she sifted through a clothing rack containing 11 garments she designed. Royster, a self-taught designer, showcased her collection of clothes Thursday night at Red Maple in Fashion Alley, an event that featured gay, lesbian, transgender and gay-friendly models and designers. The first ever event in Baltimore served as a kick-off to this weekend's annual Gay Pride celebration.

SAN FRANCISCO - In this national mecca of homosexual activism and in-your-face politics, the annual Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Parade took on a decidedly militant bent yesterday after last week's Supreme Court decision striking down states' anti-sodomy laws. Not content with merely enjoying the same rights in the bedroom as heterosexual couples, parade organizers said a theme to the parade was achieving the right to marry - foreshadowing what some believe will be the next big showdown over gay rights.

SALT LAKE CITY - Even without the beauty of the Wasatch Range, with its chiseled slopes and snow-capped peaks, visitors traveling Interstate Highway 15 would know instinctively that they're in Utah. In a state where 70 percent of the population is Mormon, the billboards that line the main artery reflect the unique needs of the majority: Knee-length shorts for missionaries, "modest" bridal gowns, church Web sites and - gay pride? But right there - in blazing yellow, red and black - are signs that seem as out of place here as a pork chop at a kosher banquet.

Jevon Patrick gazed at the finish line a long city block away and expressed concern. "It's just a pretty far distance," he said. "I used to be a champion sprinter, but this is different." For one thing, Patrick hadn't sprinted in 10 years. For another, he'd never done so in high heels. Sporting a size-11 pair of black shoes adorned with gold bows, the 37-year-old Patrick joined 15 other participants Saturday afternoon for the High-Heel Race, a goofy contest that launches the annual weekend-long Baltimore Pride festival.

We're off to see the wizard. No, not the one who lives at the end of the yellow brick road. This one might be said to live somewhere over the rainbow, as in the flag that symbolizes gay pride. Or hadn't you heard about Albus Dumbledore? If you are, or live in proximity to, a Harry Potter fan, you've already made the acquaintance. If not, suffice to say that he is our hero's mentor, the headmaster of Hogwarts, the school for wizards in training. Recently, we learned that he is also something else.

JERUSALEM -- After midnight at Shushan, the only gay bar in Jerusalem, Tallulah Bonnet, a local drag queen, was on stage, lip-synching another number before an enthusiastic crowd. Spirits were high, but there was an undercurrent of apprehension after plans for a gay pride parade today set off violent street protests in Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods and raised fears that the marchers might be attacked. "Who's afraid here?" an announcer asked from the stage. "Who's going to march even though they're afraid?"

SALT LAKE CITY - Even without the beauty of the Wasatch Range, with its chiseled slopes and snow-capped peaks, visitors traveling Interstate Highway 15 would know instinctively that they're in Utah. In a state where 70 percent of the population is Mormon, the billboards that line the main artery reflect the unique needs of the majority: Knee-length shorts for missionaries, "modest" bridal gowns, church Web sites and - gay pride? But right there - in blazing yellow, red and black - are signs that seem as out of place here as a pork chop at a kosher banquet.

SAN FRANCISCO - In this national mecca of homosexual activism and in-your-face politics, the annual Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Parade took on a decidedly militant bent yesterday after last week's Supreme Court decision striking down states' anti-sodomy laws. Not content with merely enjoying the same rights in the bedroom as heterosexual couples, parade organizers said a theme to the parade was achieving the right to marry - foreshadowing what some believe will be the next big showdown over gay rights.

It might not be as headline-grabbing as the coming out of Ellen DeGeneres' character on ABC's Ellen six years ago, or, perhaps, even the kiss shared by gay partners Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman during CBS's Tony Awards telecast earlier this month to celebrate their award for the songs in Hairspray. But something deeper and more important has been happening in the way homosexuality is being portrayed on television: Viewers are being offered some of the most enlightened images of gay, lesbian and transgendered identity ever - but only on those cable channels for which viewers are paying a premium.

BALTIMORE REALLY knows how to make you feel good about being gay. And you could feel the pride all around. During the city's gay-pride weekend festivities June 16-17, Fragrance, the cross-dressing host of the block party on Greene and Lexington streets, stepped on stage - in such neon makeup and bright plumes, he almost appeared radioactive - and screamed, "Hey Baltimore ... we've got to love each other!" To him, it didn't matter if you were gay, straight, black, white, old, young; if you were having a good time, you were welcome to the party.

It seemed like a typical summertime festival in Baltimore: the aroma of grilled burgers filled the air while people sat on blankets in the shade and danced to music in the sun.Only this was a little bit different.Here was an event in which gays and lesbians said they could be themselves without fear of harassment or rejection.Several thousand men and women gathered in the grassy Wyman Park yesterday to affirm their sexuality and commemorate their struggle for civil rights at the annual Gay and Lesbian Pride Day festival.

Anyone who wants to appreciate the differences between cable and network television in speaking to the cultural diversity of American life need look no further than the way the two realms have dealt with June as Gay Pride Month. While cable channels like Sundance, Showtime and Nickelodeon have offered an array of films, specials and series exploring gay and lesbian identity, network television has mostly ignored the matter. Cable adds to its credit tonight with an MTV documentary, True Life: I'm Coming Out, which chronicles the experience of four young adults telling their parents that they are gay. The moments of revelation are painful, poignant, awkward, brave, happy and sad. Capturing some of that would be enough to make for a successful documentary, but this one does something even better: It includes follow-up conversations with these young adults - conversations that preclude easy answers and falsely upbeat messages about how being honest or true to yourself will make everything all right.

JERUSALEM - Undeterred by the outrage of ultra-Orthodox Jews or the fear of terrorist attack, hundreds of gays and their supporters marched through the heart of downtown Jerusalem under heavy police guard yesterday in the city's first gay pride parade. By the ebullient standards of gay pride parades in San Francisco or even Tel Aviv - where an annual march has for years drawn tens of thousands - it was a subdued affair. One man wore a red velvet dress and a blond wig with waist-length braids.