The 45th annual New York City Pride Parade will kickoff at noon this Sunday, June 29, with a long day of official and unofficial celebrations throughout Manhattan.

PrideFest, the LGBT street fair now in its 21st year, will showcase vendors, entertainers, and activities in Abingdon Square from 11a.m. to 6p.m.

Just a few summers ago, in June of 2011, I was enjoying the afternoon at the second annual Hudson, NY pride and interviewed Matthew Hamilton who was sporting a homemade t-shirt saying it all, "I might be straight but I'm not narrow."

He shared his passionate plea to "make it happen" while describing how his mother and her partner of 21 years aren't able to marry. "Brittany Spears can be married for 36 hours, but not my mom."

Later that week, June 24, 2011, at 10:30pm, the Marriage Equality Act passed in NY Senate 33-29. This Act gave both New Yorkers and out-of-state residents the authority to marry whomever they choose, regardless of gender, in the state of New York.

In a recent post to me Matthew wrote "I got to walk my Mom down the aisle and give her away at her wedding last year. It was far and away one of the best days of my life." He then added in the exchange, "My daughters were both in the wedding as well. My oldest who is seven now, was a ring bearer and my youngest, now four, was a flower girl. It was without question, one of the best days of my life, one that I must admit, I wasn't sure I'd get to see. Nobody can ever walk into a room with a clipboard now, and say to one of my kids' Grandmas, "You have to leave because you're not family. We are indeed a family, have been for many years, and our family values LOVE."

Now that's what I call inspiration at it's fullest.

The fight for equality in the LGBT community has been tumultuous both outside and inside of the movement. This year's NYC Pride Parade organizers came under intense scrutiny when the grand marshals for the 2014 parade did not include a bisexual identified person. The issue was resolved and the parade marches on in all its pride and glory this Sunday afternoon.

I think the tagline for NYC Pride says it all, "We have Won, When We're One." Let's not forget, the words "heterosexual" and "homosexual" that began dividing us into categories were not even in use in the US until the early 1900's.

We have won, When We are One!

Happy Pride! I'll be out enjoying the festivities with my Pride Poodles. I'll be sure to capture some great inspirations from the proud and the colorful! Here's a throwback inspiration from the 2011 Hudson Pride organizer Trixie Starr.

Etta and Lily say "Happy Pride" (or more honestly "will someone please take these silly hats off our heads")

Saturday afternoon I travelled to Hudson, NY for the 2nd annual Hudson Pride event. It's been an intense week for Gay Pride as the NY state assembly under the strong support of Governor Andrew Cuomo passed the first step towards a Marriage Equality bill. Currently held up in the Senate and with the vote looking close to being able to pass, the energy in Hudson was amazing. I met participant Matthew Hamilton with a homemade t-shirt asking undecided Senator Steve Saland (Columbia County's Senator) to join in passing the bill. Check out Matthew's clip I made. It shows Matthew with his t-shirt and a funny rant about how even Britney Spears can be married for only 36 hours but his Mom and her partner Christine of 21 years can't be married.

I also chatted with Trixie Starr one of the event organizers. Last year was the first year and she proudly talked about how wonderful it was to create an event that brought children and people together in one small amazing community of 6000 people.

check out Trixie's Inspiration clip

Later that evening, I performed at the new state of the art Club Helsinki. I opened the night of live entertainment with a set of my own brand of what I call folked-up blues to an energized audience. My partner of 13 years Michele joined along with friends including ex NYC'er and newcomer to the Hudson scene Sherry Jo Williams, (who has opened an amazing shop called The Culture-Commerce Project) to spread the love.

For me, Gay Pride is best described as: To celebrate living a life that is driven by the force of love with the ability to reach beyond prejudice, fear and ignorance. To live a life without compromising or contradicting that love.

(Pride volunteer Jamie Trachtenberg's beautiful email signature) sums it up perfectly.

"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength; loving someone deeply gives you courage." - Lao Tzu

So here's to NY state being on the right side of History and passing the Marriage Equality bill.

Update on 2011-06-25 11:17 by NYC Subway Girl

June 24 10:30pm bill 1545 passed in NY Senate 33-29. To Senator Tom Duane who so eloquently stated in voting for this bill tonight, "there are no villians in this room, only heros." Senator Duane, you are the hero. Uniter of hero's. Thank you. I'm proud to be a New Yorker. To Matthew Hamilton whom I met and filmed at Hudson Pride, his Mom and Christine can now get married. So can I.