It's Always Sunny in Jerusalem: Tel Aviv Pride 2013

In Tel Aviv, Pride isn't just a parade or a late night party. Pride is a week long extravaganza. And I'm not talking the fake "week-long" pride events in the States, where they do a "film screening" one night and have like a speaker talk another night. In Tel Aviv, they legitimately have parties happening 24/7 for seven days. They also have a gay beach open all week. And there are guys walking the boardwalk in their leather speedos, suspenders, conductor hats, and doc martins. Normal.

The parade is different too. Rather than being an opportunity for political, cultural, and religious demonstrations--like in the US--the Pride Parade in Tel Aviv is like a giant, migrating dance party through the streets of Tel Aviv. There aren't many signs or protestors. The floats don't really move with the crowd. They are more or less stationary. The people are meant to walk around the floats and continue walking along the street to the beach. However, there was one particular float with a lot of attractive men and great music, which led to a major traffic jam in the parade. Everyone literally just stood around this float and danced for quite a while.

But we all managed to make it to the beach, where I joined an estimated 1o0,000 people in a massive beach party that lasted until sunset. Live bands played, vendors sold witty paraphernalia, and old men revealed more of themselves than I would have preferred.

The Scene