The Big Gay 5k

As some of you may know, there’s a marriage amendment on the ballot this election in Minnesota. Even though there is a perfectly effective law already on the books asserting that marriage can only be the union of one man and one woman, the state legislature decided voters should be able to decide if they want to amend Minnesota’s constitution to limit marriage to the union between one man and one woman. And, while Victoria and I have enjoyed our absence from political activism these past few years, we have been strong supporters of the “Vote No” campaign on this issue, being led by Minnesotans United For All Families.

So, when Victoria saw that Macalester was getting a team together to participate in the “Big Gay 5k” fundraiser for the Vote No campaign, she asked if I wanted to join her.

“I’ll walk it if you walk it, but I don’t want to walk if you are going to run.”

“Deal. I’ll sign us both up and we’ll walk together.”

We rode our bikes to the meeting point in Northeast Minneapolis on a gorgeous fall morning. As we looked for a place to lock up our rides, it was clear we weren’t the only ones with this idea.

Seventy-three people signed up for team Macalester, making for an impressive, good-looking group.

More than 6,000 people participated in the run/walk event, and it was fun seeing the various groups in the crowd. As with most LGBT events, it made for some fine people watching.

I was so excited to see these gold pants. They reminded me of one of my favorite artists ever, Leslie Hall, and the amazing video for her song “How We Go Out.“

Eventually we made our way to the start of the race.

Shortly after the start we turned to walk through this rainbow of balloons onto the Stone Arch Bridge, one of my favorite places in the cities.

These little cuties were on the sidelines, cheering people on.

An adorable bulldog puppy. I’m pretty sure Victoria and I need one of these…

…but not one of these. This thing looked like a drone or a UFO. It was being operated by a mystery person with a remote control somewhere and it hovered around us as we walked across the bridge. A minute later we watched it land and saw the people controlling it. It seemed as if maybe they were using this thing to take arial photos of the event, but I’m not sure. Either way it was incredibly “big brother” and creepy…

More of my favorite Minneapolis landmarks – the Grain Belt Beer sign and the Hennepin Ave Bridge.

A guy with a unicorn horn, waiting on the bathroom…

And a full-on unicorn coming out of the bathroom.

This gentleman came to cheer us on at the finish. I didn’t quite appreciate his outfit at the time, but now that I’m looking at the photo, it’s pretty impressive.

After the race we made our way back to our bikes and eventually back home to St Paul. But not before I got this shot, one of my favorites of the day. I think I’m going to call it the “Stalker Shot” because I had to quickly follow behind this woman to snap the picture and managed to include my shadow just behind her.