Last weekend was Twin Cities Pride, and fellow authors Rory Ni Coileain, Posy Roberts, and I had great fun talking to readers, librarians, and several new and aspiring authors. We lucked out with the weather – despite predicted thunderstorms, we had only a few light sprinkles of rain. My son made it there on Sunday for his first Pride, and we enjoyed everything from the booths and crafts to all the dogs of Pride.
It’s always a great experience, a chance to touch base with a new audience, and to promote the genre and the idea that there are books out there focused on positive stories with LGBTQ characters. I met a young African-American man who told me about the romance book he was working on with a gay, autistic guy like himself as MC. I hope we helped encourage him to keep writing it.
The first Pride was a protest, but Pride currently is also a connection, a community. A chance for people who may be isolated to walk among a crowd of others who share common experiences and identities and goals. From infants to elders, Furries to leather guys, lesbians and bi women in pasties holding hands, teens in Ace flags and tall guys in drag, it was great to see everyone there.