Since Mass Gatherings Are Prohibited, Dads Make Their Own Version Of Pride March With Their Kids [Video]

• With the cancellation of events due to lockdowns, two dads decided to celebrate Pride on their own.
• They took their two children outside and had their version of Pride march as neighbors watched.
• They also took advantage of this time to educate their children about social issues like the current protests, discrimination, and others.

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A lot of events have been cancelled across the country due to the COVID-19 pandemic. But that didn’t stop the two dads from Seattle to celebrate Pride with their children.

Ricky Shankar and Nic Marcheso decided to take it into their street for all their neighbors to see as they had a Pride parade with their daughter, London, 4, and their son, Roman, 1.

https://www.facebook.com/ricky.shankar/videos/10222988716414620/?t=0

“Every year we go out to Pride and do the family stuff and it helps,” Ricky , who attended the Pride parade in Seattle with his family last year, told Good Morning America. “We didn’t want this year to go by without celebrating something.”

Ricky and Nic went outside with London and Roman riding the colorfully decorated kid’s wagon complete with rainbow balloons and fans.

Amused neighbors went outside too and they took it as an opportunity to explain their celebration of Pride as a family. They were clapping for them and cheering them on shouting “Happy Pride!” as Ricky recalled.

“We got to explain to our kids what allies were based on that moment,” he said. “It really made such a difference to us.”

They also used the time to explain to the kids about other concepts, such as protests and fighting for equality — in light to the current incidents. 

“We were able to talk about not only gay pride but we were able to talk about what’s happening currently,” Ricky said referring to the death of Georg Floyed and the protests that sparked from it. “We can talk as much as an almost 5-year-old and an almost 2-year-old can understand.”

They even continued the discussion on Monday when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the discrimination in employment based on gender identity or sexual orientation is prohibited. 

“This morning we kind of connected it back to that with the kids, that black people fought for those civil rights that were upheld and we benefited from it today,” he said.

The family plans to continue their Pride celebration every year and their conversations with kids about social issues and others.

“If we all do our own part, then we’ll all get somewhere together,” Ricky said. “Equal rights for all.”

Source: Good Morning America