Love really is in the air during Stockholm Pride!!!

I arrived after a short 2 hour flight from London and I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had never been to a Scandinavian capital before and had always wanted to. I breezed through immigration and was greeted with a huge rainbow painted along the wall of baggage claim that said, “Love is in the air – Welcome to Stockholm: A Proud City” …

My heart fluttered with a million emotions of happiness running through my body. I have arrived in tons of airports, but never once had I been to one that greeted me… a gay man with open arms like this. I was excited to see what was to come the few days leading to the big day and the big day its self. Little did I know that love really would be in the air during Stockholm Pride.

The next few days were jam packed with amazing sights, meals, excursions and a wide variety of parties each night leading up to the main event. One the most memorable ones was The Underwear Party at Sodra Teatern (one of the most popular bars/clubs in Stockholm). Oh man… it was a blast. The #mygaypride crew was all nervous to go at first, but knew we all really wanted to go and did. We all arrived and the scene was insane… literally 100s of people in underwear everywhere. The line to check in/out your clothes was chaotic. Just look at it…

We didn’t mind and decided to just hold on to our bags and danced the night away. During the night in the middle of the dance floor Lauren (half of Button and Bly) decided to put a #mygaypride tattoo on me and oh it was hilarious.

It was crazy how much fun we all were having and how comfortable we all were in our underwear. Literally everyone was just dancing the night away in their underwear and it was awesome. The next day was Friday and the eve of the big day. We enjoyed a beautiful archipelago boat tour of Stockholm during the day and later that night had an amazing dinner at the LGBT hotspot Malarpaviljongen and after that all enjoyed a night out at Stockholm Pride Park and club hopping.

It was finally the big day and you could feel the excitement everywhere. I was staying at The Rival Hotel (a very LGBT friendly hotel) across from where the parade would start at Mariatorget square in Södermalm. We all made our way though to have an amazing brunch with champaign at Wienercafeet. After brunch before we all split up to enjoy the parade I made sure we got a photo of the entire #mygaypride crew. Look at us… aren’t we beautiful? Ahhhh I miss them already!!!

The parade was in full swing when we arrived…

The streets were full of spectators and what I loved most was seeing families out watching…

The costumes were on point too…

The most amazing thing of the entire parade though was witnessing two men get married…

Yes look closely… those two men in white dress shirts holding hands in the air just got married. Yes got married during the parade. I couldn’t believe it and was so happy and again full of emotions. I was walking behind them and a million thoughts raced through my mind. I remembered last time I was in Europe and went to Gay Pride in Amsterdam getting tears when I saw a float that mentioned they were celebrating 10 years of marriage because I knew I could never do so at home. Now years later I was here and saw this happen and this time got excited because now I know I can get married one day at home. Seeing this though gave me hope for the world as I watched everyone cheer for them in excitement celebrating love. Love is love and it made me realize that love really is in the air during Stockholm Pride!!!

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I was invited to Stockholm as part of the #MyGayPride summer campaign from TwoBadTourists.com. The campaign, supported by official media partner Gay Star News, has involved over 12 different bloggers visiting different pride festivals around Europe. Visit the official Stockholm Pride website here and the official Gay & Lesbian Visit Stockholm website here. I’d also like to thank AllDayInternet for allowing us to have WiFi all day on the go. All thoughts and opinions are my own.