From my friend Toni, we have a comparison of marching in the Halloween Parade and the Pride Parade here in OKC:
It’s been a busy past few days, and I hadn’t had the time before now, but I was gonna tell you all how much fun I had at the Pride Parade on Sunday!
A couple of years ago, I walked with the Oklahoma Atheists in the Halloween parade. We were mostly well-received, but I was shocked at how many people acted ugly to us…spitting at us, saying awful things about us burning in Hell, telling their kids not to take the candy we were passing out…even the children were spitting venom that night.
I expected more of the same this year. Instead, we were met with cheers, applause, general positivism. I heard a single guy say that we needed to love god, but even he said it with a smile on his face.
This gave me a bit of a warm and happy feeling, and I just wanted to pass some of that on. If your local atheist group is in a city that has a Pride Parade, I strongly encourage you guys to go out and march for equality.
EDIT: Photos have been posted up on the AOK Facebook page.
