I just got back from my eighth Long Beach Pride celebration. I used to look forward to the parade with anticipation every year. I love all of the floats and the costumes. But this year, it seemed like everyone took a low-budget approach to their parade entries. In the current economy, it makes a lot of sense. But it was still underwhelming.

Shannon and I took a cheap flight out to Long Beach last Thursday and fully expected to go to the festival. But once we got to Long Beach, we decided that paying $20 to stand in line for bad, over-priced food and water-down booze was just a waste of time and money. We spent $10 on a picnic and spent the day at the beach instead. It was the unintentionally anti-Pride weekend.

My dissatisfaction with Pride celebrations started emerging last year, when I attended Phoenix Pride for the first time. The $15 entry fee seems vastly out of whack for what you get. There’s no leather tent, no shade, and finding water is nearly impossible. Call me bitter if you want, but I don’t need to spend money to get drunk and sunburned. I could easily do that for free in the luxury of my own backyard. So why celebrate Pride at all?

All of the money raised at Long Beach Pride goes back into the community, so that $20 entry fee could be considered a charitable donation. Honestly, I’d rather give the $20 directly to the LGBT community organization of my choice. I don’t really need to hang out with a bunch of drunken fools to feel like I’m doing my part. All of the anti-Prop 8 signs in the parade were a bit depressing when I looked at them in conjunction with the sad-looking design-on-a-dime floats. As a community we are gleefully throwing our money down the marriage drain, while social services are woefully understaffed and underfunded. Voter turn out in WeHo and the Castro was under 40%. And 6 months after the election is a little late to be waving signs in a parade.

Some cute little gay boy asked me if I wanted a Gavin Newsom sticker – he was shocked when I told him no. “Do you know who he is?” he asked me incredulously.

“Yes.” I hoped the unimpressed look on my face was easy enough to understand, but the kid was determined to share his enthusiasm.

“That’s him right there. You can meet him.”

Unlike the Pride enthusiasts near me, I didn’t give a shit. Here’s why: I think it’s a waste of community resources to pin all of our hopes on marriage equality. We can get married now in several states. But where’s the change in attitudes towards the LGBTQ community? Where’s the money for HIV prevention and services? And where’s the end to hate crimes and job discrimination? You shouldn’t expect to see it, because it’s not going to materialize. Gavin Newsom can do all the political grand-standing he wants about marriage equality. But in my opinion, there are way more important issues that we need to be focusing on as a community.

I love leather daddies, bears, drag queers, twinks, biker dykes, and gay cheerleaders as much as the next fag hag. I get teared up every year I see a huge PFLAG contingent marching in the parade. And just for the sake of tradition, I always throw money into the giant rainbow flag that the people from the AIDS Food Bank carry down Ocean Boulevard. I participated this year, just like I have every year that I’ve attended Long Beach Pride. But the parade just seemed sad this year. I hope it’s just the economic downturn that’s taken the razzle dazzle out of Pride weekend for me, and not something more serious.

How about you? Do you think Pride has become passe?