The Gay Parade is more of a political statement than ever today. Here in my garden on 36 Street the music is still pumping from Fifth Avenue where the parade started almost 5 hours ago. The reason for the event being even more colorful and outrageous than usual is not just the milestones of legal status that have been achieved in recent times, but the celebration for the women who made them.

When I swung by 5th and 35th before the parade started, I stumbled into the press machine of Christine Quinn. She already has a very high profile in the city, being the Speaker of the NY City Council and the most powerful public servant behind the Mayor – a gap she soon hopes to close. There are pictures of Christine all over the city, due to her pinup potential with street vendors, and after today’s crush of cameras and the metronome of motor drives, there will be a lot more. I didn’t have the advantage of height or camera armor to fight to the center of the pack, but even without a press pass I found myself in just the right spot to shoot Edie Windsor when she joined the red head’s spotlight. Edie, at 84, is very much the hero of the day. When her partner of more than 40 years died a few years ago, Edie had to pay $363K in death duties – something she would not have been liable for if her partner had been a man. In the Supreme Court last Wednesday Edie won her case against the government when it was declared that the Defense of Marriage Act was unconstitutional, and since then rainbow ripples have been running riot around the country.

So while celebrations continue on the ground, I will enjoy the evening breezes and welcome drops of rain up here in my arbourage. There is a time for redheads and a time for politics, and there is a time to stop and smell the flowers…