It was a very hot! day in New York City for WorldPride NYC in 2019, and Christine Demarais and her daughter Claire split their time at the celebration, beating the heat in air conditioning wherever they could find it, then dashing out to soak in the global Pride vibe along the parade route.With her daughter by her side, the celebration, marking the 50th anniversary of the Stonewall Riot in 1969, gave Demarias occasion to think about family, and the burdens and joys that come with it. Related Ann Willoughby & Barb Goldstein have been together for 43 years & they still celebrate Pride The couple became posterchildren for marriage rights in 2012. I was 15 years old in 1969 when Stonewall happened, and I was ashamed and afraid about my sexuality, she tells LGBTQ Nation. So I was thrilled to be there with my darling daughter, who also identifies as queer. Never Miss a Beat Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights. Subscribe to our Newsletter today I was also there to remember and represent my beloved father, who was never able to come out and was closeted his whole life, she adds.The story I heard from a cousin on my fathers side was this, Demarais shares. When he was 16, his mother caught him in bed with another boy. She promptly disowned him, and he had to go live with his father, who drank himself to death in a few years.After that, he went to Europe and lived there for many years, only returning to the U.S. when World War II broke out, she says. He did not fight. He was a Quaker and a conscientious objector. He died at age 62 of a massive heart attack when I was 22. I loved my father dearly. He taught me about all the arts and to appreciate the beauty of nature. He was a gentle, creative man. He loved cooking, sewing, Broadway musicals, and the opera, she says.After my father died, I ran away to California, and lived in San Francisco in the 70s and 80s, where I was friends with many gay and lesbian people and began to feel stirrings of my true bisexual self.I think, because of my father, I have always loved LGBTQ+ people and culture. My exposure to this culture made me begin to suspect that my father had a queer, and very private life, she says.I was in San Francisco when Anita Bryant came to town with her homophobic campaign. I was there when Dan White assassinated Mayor Moscone and Harvey Milk, she continues. The late 80s were awful. I lost many friends to AIDS. I volunteered at the Names Project [the AIDS Quilt] while pregnant with my daughter. I did not have a good relationship with my mother she was extremely traditional, sexist, and homophobic so it is extra special that I have that with my own daughter. She has been endlessly loving and supportive of me in my journey toward living a more authentic life, she notes.Demarais recalls one moment from that day at Pride shared with family that stood out among the rest.I met up with a gay and sober group and had a few nice conversations while we waited to join the parade. Along the way, I met a woman in a Free Mom Hugs t-shirt, who had something of a thousand-yard stare to her. It was her very first Pride talk about a baptism by fire!I told her that I was a mom, too, and offered her a hug.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.