The Rhode Island LGBT Center and Rhode Island Pride teamed up on Friday night to present a Countdown to Pride Movie Night. The movie is just one of a handful of events in the next few weeks that will lead up to RI PrideFest and its illuminated parade on June 20th. It sounded like fun to watch a movie with some fun, welcoming people, and Moonie liked the sound of the make-your-own sundae bar.

A lot.

He pulled himself away from the jimmies and chocolate sauce after seeing a big rainbow flag across the room, immediately toddling over to add some pink to the pretty colors.

(“What’s PrideFest?” Moonie whispered after reading the poster next to him.
“It’s a day where people gather together to be proud of who they are and who they love, and there’s lots of rainbow colors and music and a parade and other fun stuff,” I whispered back.
“Oh,” he said. “They should do that every day!”)

We settled in to watch the movie with some ginger ale, and a nice person brought me a beer cozy to make it more comfortable to hold the can. Even the beer cozy had a rainbow on it 😛

The movie, serendipitously called “Pride,” was about British gay activists working to help a group of striking Welch miners in 1984, overcoming barriers and creating unexpected friendships. The cast was great and included Andrew Scott (Moriarty from BBC’s “Sherlock”) and Bill Nighy, who has appeared in everything from “Dr. Who” to one of the Harry Potter movies. Big thumbs up for “Pride.” It featured some heavy themes like prejudice and the onset of AIDS and rejection by characters’ own families, but there were also a lot of funny and touching moments to balance those out.

That’s about the best review I can give, because the nice people at the LGBT Center had given Moonie & me a bag of kettle corn before the film started, and the movie had to compete against rustling and crunching as the little guy sat in my lap diving in and out of the bag to munch away on popcorn. At least I got this sheepish smile each time I looked down.

Moonie’s cuteness has saved him more than once.