On a warm and sunny June 20th, Sisters Eunice X, Frieda B Fabulous, Gloria LeLuia, KrisTall Mighty, and Sandra Musique were joined at The Convent for facing by Novice Angela Merci and her husband, volunteer Mitch, as well as Postulant Devin.
The Sisters faced up in the wee hours of morning for a 10am departure time to drive themselves to Salem, MA for the annual North Shore Pride Parade and Festival. Once there, the eight Members checked in at the registration desk and used their spare time before the parade to have some snacks and drinks at a local pub. Afterwards, The Sisters were joined by Sisters Ima Miracle and Rosetta Stone, who had manifested and driven up separately. At this point, the ten Members rejoined the rest of the parade marchers and got themselves in line.
The parade itself was bright, sunny, and perfect. The crowd on the sidewalks was cheery, loud, and happy to come out to support everyone. There were lots of families with children in strollers decked out in rainbow ribbons and handkerchiefs, lots of teens with pink and purple dyed hair, and lots of gay men and women out cheering and celebrating.
After the parade ended, the festival was ready to begin in the park at the end of the route. The Sisters stuck around the entrance of the festival taking photos with people and enjoying the energy. A few minutes later, a preacher and his son arrived yelling into a megaphone about sin and hell. The Sisters decided to take this time to peacefully protest these actions. They formed a “wall of fabulous” in front of the preacher by holding hands in front of him, facing the crowd. As he moved, so did the wall. The Sisters also used this opportunity to protect both the crowd and the preacher by trying to convince angry crowd members to leave him alone and not let him get them angry. The crowd was incredibly supportive of these actions, cheering and taking photographs, and a few of them even joined us and soon our wall was growing. The marching band then came over to play as loudly as possible to drown the gentleman out. He was pushed out, but eventually moved to a new spot and began preaching again. The Sisters were approached by many people who thanked them for their service.
After the festival, The Sisters walked a few blocks to indulge in some delicious Mexican food and cocktails and then hopped back into their respective cars for the drive home.
All in all, it was a very beautiful day with lots of beautiful people. And even the people who were there to disrupt our celebration ended up bringing us all closer together.
