I returned from San Francisco a couple of days ago. I had a wonderful time with friends (really, they are my family) and loved seeing the city. I also got to do a little bit of work for this fabulous company I work for that is going to change the world. It was looking festive and beautiful for Gay Pride Week. I missed the parade becuase I had to get back here for some work. But I ran smack dab into another Pride Festival. You can read about Gay Pride in Madrid in this New York Times article. The Madrileños do know how to party.
It felt strange being in SF again, like I had never left and like I had been away for years. I´ve only been gone less than a year, so I suppose that is not a strange feeling, but Madrid does feel like home right now. Who knows, if my visa is not renewed, I may be back in a few months anyway!
I came back to Madrid to see my friend Stuart Milk, who, as most of you know, is the nephew of Harvey Milk. Stuart was swinging back to the US after opening gay pride in Istanbul. Apparently the city had brought out the riot police and street tanks to stop the parade, but it was finally allowed to continue. Congrats to Stuart on his courage and leadership. Stuart is being slammed with interview requests from all over Madrid and Europe, so we have done almost no touring, but I am glad I was able to hook him up with the media here. It´s very important that the message that Harvey carried continues today.
If you can read Spanish, here is the link to the El Pais story on Stuart. Tonight he will be receiving the Muestra T award and I will be giving my first gay rights speech in Spanish (very short). I am so used to doing speeches and television, but in another language, it will be interesting to see how it feels. Barcelona and the rest of the country had their parties last weekend, but Madrid is this week. It is one of the biggest in the world, with more than 1,000,000 participants (compared to 60,000 in Barcelona). If you don´t think of Madrid as an LGBT tourist spot, you really should.