At the Foot of the Capitol, Capital Pride

Gay Justice Department employees. Gay Orthodox Christians. Gay antique car collectors. If you were gay and on Pennsylvania Avenue yesterday, there was a booth for you at the Capital Pride festival, which has grown into a merry street party during its 33 years.

Thousands of people strolled in the baking sunshine between Third and Seventh streets NW, watching swing dancers, eating kebabs and browsing for such items as car and pet insurance, underwear and jewelry. One of the most popular stops was the cocker spaniel adoption booth. The economy was first on people's lists of election-year concerns.

The festival, which began with the national anthem and an all-lesbian rock band from Maryland, was the finale of Capital Pride, a 10-day affair that began June 6 and included concerts, an interfaith service, a parade and a town hall about the economic standing of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

Organizers said that Capital Pride is the third largest gay pride event in the country and that they were hoping for 200,000 people yesterday.

Possibly the most ubiquitous booths were those run by faith groups, including Jews, Mormons, Buddhists, Catholics and small nondenominational churches. A popular sticker: "Created in God's image."

"You can't just give up who you are," said Niko, who declined to give his last name but was staffing the booth of Axios, a lay group of Washington area gay and lesbian Christians of Eastern and Orthodox traditions.

No doubt politics and weighty subjects were present, including booths about AIDS and women's health and omnipresent "Lift the Ban" stickers referring to the "don't ask, don't tell" policy forbidding gays and lesbians from openly serving in the U.S. military. Many people stopped at the tent for the Human Rights Campaign, a major advocacy group focused on backing Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) in November's presidential election and defeating a constitutional amendment in California that would overturn a recent court ruling allowing same-sex couples to marry.

Diane Mock, 60, of Minneapolis stopped at a booth for federal employees to voice her anger at Veterans Affairs for not letting her put her longtime partner on her health insurance. Mock, who recently retired as a media specialist, said the government should be "leading the charge" on the issue.

"We have paid our taxes like everyone else," she said, gesturing to her partner of 28 years.

"And we have [through taxes] been supporting traditional partners," said Diane Kukielka, 53.

The women said they hoped same-sex couples would go to California, marry, return to their states and demand equal treatment.

A booth for supporters of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) was crowded, but the debate was about Israel and the economy, not gay rights.

As in past years, there was a campy current running through the festival, with tan, sculpted men wearing -- and selling -- tiny underwear posing with tourists for photos. Yet while they were able to draw a crowd by asking volunteers to strip to their underwear to get a promotional gift, the crowd seemed bored.

"What's the point?" one man asked as he peered over heads to see a man in his briefs. "Let's go get some shawarma."