I have been photographing the gay parades since 1999. I began just looking a new project, but after the first parade I found this to be a great experience. Ten years ago gay people were first coming out and this was the only chance for them to express themselves without ridicule.Now it is different and is an event that is fun to photograph. Being a street photographer, it is sometimes difficult to take pictures of people, but at the gay parade everyone wants their pictures taken, are willing to pose, and act, and enjoy themselves. It is the latter that I have tried to capture. Every year I do get a press pass so that I am able to photograph with no difficulties, but the most interesting is getting to the parade a few hours before it begins so that I can capture the excitement and preparation.

When Ron invited me to team up with him for this show, I was delighted and baffled at the same time, particularly when I started rummaging through the big bags of parade handouts and favors that Ron gave me for inspiration. While Ron’s photography distills very complex moments into a perfect single image, I needed to figure out how to work with a crazy-quilt of colorful little objects and make them cohesive. Before long, I realized that the objects were symbolic of some very big themes that needed to be communicated. These are: gender identity; personal and civil safety; recognition and respect; family/marriage rights; self-respect and self-esteem; and personhood – being LGBT is integral to a person, but does not define that person. These are profoundly serious themes dressed up brightly for a parade, and accordingly, I am viewing them as divisions of a parade.