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Today there was a Pride Parade in my city. This means it is a GLBT pride parade. There was one last week in San Francisco. I thought I would see something interesting so I went to watch, but everything was just normal. Nothing queer, except for the placards shouting pro-GLBT slogans.
One slogan read: Queer Muslims Welcome.
I thought it weird to call a Muslim queer. Isn't that offending?
Only later did I realize that "queer" was an umbrella term for sexual and gender minorities. It is a word originally used against them but later was reclaimed by those people and was now associated with pride.
On this Saturday morning, I had planned to go to the library early when it opened at 9 am, but as I learned there was such a parade at 11 am and it was near my home, I thought I had better check it out. So I did some yard chores after getting up at 7 am. Lots of work. Then I drove to Sand City to handle something. After that it was already 11:06. I drove through Sand City to get as close to Broadway as I could, where the parade would be held, but I parked in the wrong place. I stepped out of the car and saw an empty Broadway half blocked due to roadwork. This section was between Noche Buena and DelMonte and was never used for parades. I went back to my car to check in the newspaper and learned that the parade started at Noche Buena @ Broadway. That had always been the starting spot for any parade in this city. I drove back home, grabbed my bike and rode to the cross section. Alas! it was empty. Then I saw blinking red and blue lights of a police car and realized that the parade had started and was now a distance from me. It was a downward street, though, so I glided down Broadway to catch up with the parade and took pictures. Afterwards I biked home to eat a quick lunch and rode to the city's activity center to see more activities there. There was an indoor rally. The hall was fully packed. Of course they were not all sexual minorities. There were stands of propaganda and a free photo taking with fancy dress accessories. I took one, wearing a glossy hat, a pinkish paper necklace and holding a heart shaped coushion to block the "ARMY" on my T-shirt (by the way, the military now accepts LGBT). Then I need to pee. I knew that center inside and out, so I headed towards the men's room. Alas, as I arrived there were women inside. I noticed there was a new sign at the door indicating it was now an all gender restroom. I asked a lady at a stand next to it wether was only for today. She said enthusiastically yes and explained the importance to let people be aware of the rights of sexual minorities. I said I would hesitate to pee in front of ladies. She said well treat the restroom as your house and the toilets as a restroom in the house. I said why not, I would experience it, so I walked in. But the ladies had already left. One young girl came out of one toilet as I walked into the other one. As I was peeing, I heard someone was using the neighboring toilet but I did not know if it was a man or woman. It made no difference to me whatsoever. As I came out, a pretty miss came out too. But to my surprise, a young man was using the waterless loo right there in the "sitting room "area. Fortunately he was facing the wall and had his back towards the washing basins. The young lady shew no expression on her face as if everyone in the restroom was the same sex, or , as the truth had it, the same human beings.
I found Pride Day fun, because people wore colorful clothes in a hot summer. It was like a party.
I went there for another reason. The book room there was always closed after 5 pm. I got no chance to visit it. I was sure it was open today and I wanted to check if there were interesting books. I had donated lots of book to the book room and now there was a note saying Take One and Bring One back. I found three classics and took them away: Lady Chatterley's Love, Of Human bondage and Coningsby by Disreali. I do not need to bring any back since I had donated but I still plan to, not knowing when. I have plenty books to give.
谷歌翻译，本人修改
今天在我的城市有一个骄傲游行。这意味着它是GLBT(同性恋，双性恋，变性人)的骄傲游行。上周在旧金山有一次。我以为我会看到有趣的东西，所以我去今天去看，但一切都是正常的。没有什么奇怪的，除了标语牌写着支持GLBT的口号。
一个口号如下：Queer Muslims Welcome。
我以为说穆斯林怪异有点怪。这不是得罪人的吗？
后来我才意识到“queer”是性和性别少数群体的总称。这是一个原来用来对付他们的话，后来才被这些人回收，现在与自豪相关。
在这个星期六早上，我计划在早上九点开放的时候去图书馆，但是据了解，上午11点将会有这样一个游行，而且在我家附近，我以为我最好看一下。所以在早上七点起床后我做了一些院子里的杂事。很多工作。然后我开车去沙城处理事情。之后呢已经是11:06了。我开车穿过沙城，尽可能靠近百老汇，游行将在那里举行，但我停在错误的地方。我走出车子，看到一个空的百老汇大街，一半路封了，因为有工程。这部分是在Noche Buena和DelMonte之间，从未被用来游行。我回到我的车去检查报纸，并得知游行开始于Noche Buena @ Broadway。这一直是这个城市游行的起点。我开车回家，抓起我的自行车，骑到那个十字路口。唉!它是空的然后我看到一辆警车上闪烁的红色和蓝色的灯光，意识到游行已经开始，现在离我有点距离。这是一条向下的街道，所以我滑下百老汇赶上游行并拍照。之后，我骑自行车回家去吃午餐，然后骑到城市的活动中心去看看更多的活动。有一个室内集会。大厅里坐满了人。他们当然不都是性少数。有展示宣传和免费拍照片，可以装扮。我戴上一个光亮的帽子，一条粉红色的纸项链，拿着一个心形的软垫来阻挡我的T恤上的“陆军”（顺便说一句，军方现在接受了LGBT）。然后我需要撒尿。我很熟悉这个中心，所以我朝着男洗手间走去。唉，当我到达那里时，有女人在里面。我注意到门口有一个新的标志，表示现在是一个全性别的厕所。我问一个旁边的一位女士，是否只有今天才有。她热烈地表示肯定，并说明了让人们了解性少数群体权利的重要性。我说我在女人面前撒尿会犹豫。她说，你权把洗手间当作房子，把马桶间当作房子里的洗手间。我说为什么不这样，我会体验一下，所以我走进去，但是女士们已经离开了。当我走进另一个马桶间时，一个女孩从一个马桶间出来。当我在撒尿时，我听到有人正在使用旁边的马桶，但我不知道是男人还是女人。这对我来说没有任何区别。当我出来，一个漂亮的小姐也出来了。但令我吃惊的是，一名年轻人在“客厅”区域正在使用无水便池。幸运的是，他面对着墙，背朝向洗手盆。那个小姐脸上没有表情，就好像洗手间里的每一个人都是同一个性别，或者像真相那样，是同样的人
我发现骄傲日很有乐趣，因为人们在炎热的夏天穿着五颜六色的衣服。就像一个聚会
我去那里有另一个原因。下午5点以后，图书室总是关闭。我没有机会去。我确定今天开放，我想看看是否有有趣的书。我以前给这个图书室里捐了很多书，现在有一个告示，说拿走一本，带回一本。我找到了三本经典带走：《查特莱夫人的情人》，毛姆的《人之囚》和本傑明•迪斯雷利
的《科寧斯比；或，新世代》。既然我捐赠过书，我不需要再拿回三本别的，但我还是计划拿回来，但不知道什么时候。我有很多书可以捐。
