It was very corporate and the parade was separated from people by fences. It felt like a joke. I was physically and emotionally disjointed. It was comodified and meant absolutely nothing to me as someone who got kicked out by a homophobic landlord not long prior to it. My rights weren't helped. The western queer rights continue diminishing while corporate profit off of it and they will and already do turn their back on their rainbow merch because it no longer makes as much profit. I'm sadly single and never managed to actually date someone as opposed to just going out on dates. My background is already very niche, my interests are also niche, being queer and intersex I have an extremely tiny plausible dating pool which I'm yet to discover.
LGBTQ+
My first pride, I was overwhelmed with the emotion of having found my people
Since then, my awareness of the politics, and corporate influence have taken the shine off of it. I still love being with my community, but my awareness of how far removed it is from its origins is something I can't unsee
I'm only 19 and my first pride was in 2017 in NY. My mom took me and wore a shirt that was supposed to be in support of me being trans but it made it look like we were dating. Multiple people sold me alcohol. It was hot as fuck and almost everyone was naked or almost naked lol. 10/10
My first pride was in Toronto, mid 1990s. It was fun. For some reason I attracted the attention of the leather crowd even though I wasn't into leather. I hung out with the leather people for like four days. It was fun and educational. Made lots of new friends, hooked up with guys who were like me, not into leather, and had a blast. The leather community back then was super tight and friendly to everybody. Still have friends from that time when I met them.