Ashley Rukes Minneapolis LGBT Pride Parade

Downtown Minneapolis and especially Hennepin Avenue was taken over by the annual LGBT Pride Parade today. It has been running since 1972, and is one of the largest in the United States. I'm very proud to say that for the first time in its history, the sitting Governor of Minnesota, Mark Dayton, was in the parade. 400,000 people were involved in Pride this year. What a marvelous event it was, and the happiness in the air was amplified by the recent news from New York.

Clockwise from top left: visitors, possibly heading to the Pride party and concert; spectators, love the hair color of this lady; Hennepin Avenue, the restaurants decorated with Rainbow Flags; the awesome Dykes on Bikes contingent musters before the parade; and an OutFront Minnesota parade float - OutFront is Minnesota's leading LGBT-equality organization.