We all cheered

A few minutes into Saturday's equality rally, a couple who'd been married in San Francisco were telling what it was like to have a civil right removed by popular vote -- and then all eyes turned toward Ann Street.

A dozen or so kids from the high school's Gay- Straight Alliance were marching up, signs in hand and smiles on faces, to join the crowd. And those of us a generation (or two) ahead of them lifted a mighty cheer.

I mean, it was wonderful to have our former mayor there (Jimmy, over there on the right in the top shot), along with a few clergy, veteran activists from the ACLU and NOW, J.T. (who coined our island's "One Human Family" motto, and has distributed a million of its bumper stickers around the world), a score of other folks we knew and a few hundred we didn't -- gay, straight or uncategorized.

But that injection of young energy brought a shot of joy to the whole group. Robert had asked, as we were getting ready to walk up to the rally, "Are we gonna have to get this flag out every 31 years?" Right now, I don't think so.

When the rally ended, the Boomers mostly stayed around Old City Hall. The young-uns, and us, took our flags and pickets over to Duval, where the annual AIDS riders from Miami happened to be making their triumphal swing through Old Town. We cheered them, and they cheered us.

And, realizing that they'd cleared us a wonderful path, we followed by cyclists with an impromptu march up Duval. Bartenders rang their ships' bells, drivers honked and shouted and tourists on the sidewalks gave us grinning thumbs-ups as we chanted. Robert was all smiles: "Seeing this many young people show up. . . ." He just shook his head in amazement.

The kids kept going as we got to the 801, but we peeled away and had a cold drink. Age does have some privileges.