Withering Glance: We parade with Pride this year, for sure

Rick Nelson and Claude Peck dispense unasked-for advice about clothing, etiquette, culture, relationships, grooming and more.

CP: I was in downtown St. Paul along with thousands of others on May 14, after Guv Dayton signed the gay-marriage thingy. After that spontaneous celebration, today's Festival of Pride was seeming a bit been-there/done-that. Then along came SCOTUS and its DOMA drubbing. Are you just bursting with Pride in this landmark year?

RN: Totally, because there's so very much to celebrate. Who knows? I may, after a many-years absence, even attend the Ashley Rukes Pride Parade, although I have absolutely nothing to wear. What about you?

CP: What, Brooks Brothers didn't issue a rainbow-edition walking short?

RN: Good one.

CP: If any straight man can outshine parade-loving Mayor Rybak, it'll be this year's Grand Marshal and ex-Vikings punter, Chris Kluwe.

RN: The screams will be heard all the way to Mound. As they should be. He's aces. What's your favorite perennial parade contingent?

RN: For me, it's all about the full-throttle roar that is Dykes on Bikes. And the Minnesota Freedom Band's toe-tapping entertainment. And, of course, the PFLAG contingent. We love them.

CP: I treasure a snapshot of my mother entering Loring Park one year, wearing her sensible denim skirt and parading alongside some guy dressed as the Good Witch of the West.

RN: That Joanie. My happiest Pride memories are the years I walked in the parade, helping to carry an enormous rainbow flag and encouraging — OK, shouting — at paradegoers to toss their change for the AIDS Emergency Fund. It was exhilarating.

CP: What's kept you from the parade-viewing stands in recent years? Shame?

RN: Boredom. It's way too long, it needs an editor. Although given the recent legal advances, perhaps watching this year's parade will be as much fun as walking in it.

RN: And State Sen. Scott Dibble.

CP: Still, the parade does seem to last longer than January in Minnesota.

RN: See? You're doing a bang-up job of talking me out of it.

CP: Not so fast, buster. I am hooking the lavender-striped sidecar to the Vespa and will pick you up promptly at 11 a.m.

E-mail: witheringglance@startribune.com