Who is Dan Renzi
Dan first came to our attention in MTV’s Real World Miami, but since then he’s become a writer, blogger (danrenzi.typepad.com) and is now Editor-in-Chief of the Express Gay News, which is south Florida’s LGBT weekly newspaper (www.expressgaynews.com). Dan took us on a tour of Miami last year.

What does pride mean to you?
It’s a good time to remember that–despite how glamorous and fun the gay media says gay life is, with all the TV shows with gay characters and people coming out and such–not much has changed for many gay people in this country. People still need to feel like they can go somewhere and feel strength in numbers, seeing other people out there. I could get into the fate of gay people in the rest of the world, but I don’t want to start sounding like Sally Struthers. Anyway–that’s why, when there are gay pride events, it’s important for everyone to show up with a smiles on their faces.

What are you doing for pride this year?
South Florida is filled with Gay Pride events. The staff of our paper will be rolling down the street in a convertible, in the Fort Lauderdale’s Stonewall Street Festival parade. But I am actually going up north to the Stonewall Ball, which is a fundraiser dinner for Compass, the Gay and Lesbian Community Center of Palm Beach. They have the same name, they’re on the same night, but they have nothing to do with each other. And neither have any association with Stonewall in New York. We have 17 different names for the word “gay,” yet we can’t come up with another name for their gay pride festivities.

Then I’m going to San Francisco’s gay pride, as the spokesperson for www.youcode.com. YouCode is sponsoring the Pride Run, so I am going to cheer on all the runners whilst I drink mimosas. Big fun.

Who is Frank
Frank’s popular !!OMG Blog!! (http://www.omgblog.com/) is the place to turn for fun clips, photos and the occasional nude celeb. OMG!

Frank in his own words
A product of the cold and cruel Northeast, Frank has the cunning to befriend the pretty girls and the endurance to withstand even the most bossy middle-aged alpha males: and that is why he would make the Ultimate Survivor.

What does pride mean to you?
To me, Gay Pride is about living under the assumption that no cares that I’m married to a man. Sometimes this is easy and sometimes it’s not, but I think this attitude is tied into the hope that much better times are coming for gay people in terms of equal treatment under the law and otherwise. I think we might even see big changes in my lifetime.

What are you doing for pride this year?
I’ll be in Paris for work during Gay Pride there on June 28th, so I imagine I’ll catch a glimpse of the parade and hang out with my friends who live in Paris.

• Paris Gay Pride
• Frank’s Profile on GayCities

Who is Arjan?
Arjan Writes (www.arjanwrites.com) has become one of the web’s best places to find out about new music, get some of the backstory behind the releases and download free MP3s.

Arjan in his own words
Born and raised in Amsterdam, the man with a reputation for spotting up-and-coming artists first, Arjan Writes, currently resides in Atlanta, GA and authors one of the Web’s most popular music blogs, ArjanWrites.com - the source for hot new music that is sweet & crunchy!

What does pride mean to you?
Gay Pride is a day every year to celebrate the diversity of queer culture, to come together to support equal civil rights and a time to share everything queer with everybody else. For me, Pride is not an exclusively a gay and lesbian thing. It is for all people who want to stand up for who they are and what they believe in. That’s the beauty of it. It’s everybody’s party.

What are you doing for pride this year?
I will be Atlanta, GA this year. Atlanta is a beacon of freedom and equality in the Southeast, so I feel that Atlanta is a great place to celebrate Pride to help make people more aware of how diverse the queer community is. At previous Atlanta Pride events, I’ve seen right-wing religious demonstrators proclaiming through bull horns that homosexuality is a sin while the parade is passing by. Nobody is arguing with them, because during Pride everybody’s invited and everybody can join the party.

Today we unveiled the biggest upgrade to GayCities that we’ve ever done. We’ve completely redesigned the site based on your feedback and added more ways for you to connect with others to find out where to go out, where to eat and where to stay in over 65 cities in the US, Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico.

Your reviews are such an essential part of GayCities, but today we’ve added easy and fun ways to learn more about any place you are heading, including photos and our new “fans” feature. Read on for some of the highlights and see some of the press coverage we’ve gotten.
Continue reading “GayCities, now with more of what you asked for” »

Who is Brett?
Brett Henrichsen has been keeping us dancing whether at one of the events he DJ’ed or Masterbeat CDs that he put out for years.

Brett in his own words
I’ve recently stopped producing the Masterbeat dance compilation CD’s to start Masterbeat.com – the world’s largest catalog of dance music online!

What does pride mean to you?
Pride to me is confidence in yourself and who you are. It’s not being afraid to stand up for your beliefs. The ability to be yourself in every situation. As being gay becomes more accepted in today’s world, Pride can and should evolve to mean taking Pride in everything you do – whether related to being gay or not.

What are you doing for pride this year?
Being a DJ gives me the unique opportunity to experience many Prides throughout the world, as I get to travel and work at many of them. It started with Long Beach Pride in May, followed by spending Memorial Weekend at Sao Paulo Pride in Brazil, which is the largest Pride in the world. Later this summer I’ll be at New York Pride and Madrid Pride, and in Rio De Janeiro for their Pride in October.

Who is Kate Clinton?
Humorist Kate Clinton has been making audiences laugh for over 25 years and is making rounds this year with her “Hilarity Clinton ‘08″ show. Be sure to check out her blog Communikate on kateclinton.com.

What does pride mean to you?
Working for a world where that intimate, personal moment of coming out is a wonderful, joyful experience and not a shamed, suicidal panic attack gives me great pride. Despite all our advances, we are not there yet.

What are you doing for pride this year?
I will once again happily emcee the New York LGBT Community Center’s Garden Party at Chelsea Piers! Then swallow a prism and burp rainbows.

Who is Justin Rudd?
Justin Rudd has lived in Long Beach for 12 years and runs a nonprofit he started that focuses on issues related to youth, animals and the environment. He puts out a gay and lesbian-themed e-newsletter each Thurs. to more than 3,000 Long Beach-area subscribers. His Web site is www.JustinRudd.com.

What does pride mean to you?
Pride is a time to reflect on who we are and what we are about. It’s a time to celebrate.

What did you do for pride this year? (Long Beach Pride took place in May)
I enjoyed the Long Beach Pride celebration by attending a few pre-parties, walked as grand marshal in the parade, and attended the festival.

Who are Alek & Steph
We first started paying attention to Alek & Steph when we came across all the photos of beautiful men they were posting on their blog OhLaLaParis. Since then, their blog has expanded into a mini-online empire with the same high quality content we’ve come to expect.

Alek & Steph in their own words
Alek and Steph are world renowned fashion photographers that run several online publications like www.bellomag.com and www.ohlalamag.com , and have been life partners for over 9 years.

What does pride mean to you?
To us Pride is a reminder that we are really lucky to be living today, and that many had to fight for all the rights that are progressively being a standard all over the world. But the fight is not over yet… that is why even though the Pride events evolved they still need to take place till the equality is perfect.

What are you doing for pride this year?
Ah we are going to see the parade here in L.A. with our friends and then get together around the pool and have some more friends over.

Who is Jeffrey Prang?
Jeffrey Prang has served on West Hollywood’s City Council since 1997 and has served as mayor 3 times since 2000. He’s long been an advocate for gay civil rights and for his community. This weekend Los Angeles celebrates “LA Pride” which takes place completely within the city of West Hollywood.

What does pride mean to you?
I look at Pride from my perspective as an elected official, a community activist, and as someone deeply engaged in the gay civil rights movement. Pride represents historically the beginning of the modern gay civil rights movement: the Stonewall rebellion from which pride emanated. It reflects that our community is working to overcome discrimination, intolerance and oppression while celebrating the new openness that is becoming more and more available to people in our community. Thirty years ago most people were in the closet, today kids are coming out in High School. Pride is a time to celebrate our achievements over the years and to recommit ourselves to the struggle that remains before us. This year we celebrate the California Supreme Court decision to validate our relationships, but at the same time we have to prepare to dig in for the assault against those newly earned rights.

What are you doing for pride this year?
I will be riding on a float in the parade, attending the festival and getting out and mixing it up with all the people coming to West Hollywood for Pride. And it was at pride in the year in 2003 that I met my partner, so it’s our anniversary.

Anything else?
The gay and lesbian community is as diverse as this country and this world. Whatever demographic, different economic strata, whether urban or rural, we represent all political stripes whether liberal or conservative, Pride is opportunity for all of us to come together in a bond of unity and realize that we are called together with a common purpose of living the american dream with full rights and responsibilites and fully included citizens of earth.

Who are the Feast of Fools?
Marc and Fausto are hosts of the popular talk show Feast of Fools
which you can listen to at http://www.feastoffools.net

What does pride mean to you?
Pride is about celebrating who we are and what we have acheived. It
is also about trashy people wearing visors and eating fried chicken in a lawn
chairs while drag queens or a muscle studs shake their stuff on a hot summer day parade.

What are you doing for pride this year?
We’ll be hosting Milwaukee Pridefest on June 7, 2008. We’ll also be
moderating a live forum about sex and the Internet at the Center on
Halsted in Chicago on June 12th. We’ll be going out a lot and of course attending the Pride Parade here in Chicago on June 29th. We usually do something very wacky and last year we passed out mashed potatoes. What should we do this year? Any ideas, please let us know.