There was also an element of political theater in a mass Disney visit a flash mob before the term existed. (See pictures of the gay-rights movement.) By 1995, at least 10,000 gays and lesbians were traveling to Orlando for the gay day at Disney. Going on the teacup ride or getting wet on Splash Mountain was a way to reclaim an unfinished adolescence. There was, literally and figuratively, no For many gays and lesbians who grew up in the latter half of the 20th century, childhood was a time of anxiety and secrets, faggot jokes and spitballs. But the event sparked something in the gay imagination. Gay Days started modestly in 1991 as a way for some 3,000 lesbians and gays from central Florida to become more visible on one day, the first Saturday in June in the theme parks that dominate the region's economy.
(Watch TIME's video about Gay Days in the Magic Kingdom.) , a Florida-based gay newspaper that has been covering Gay Days since it started, about 150,000 people attended this June's six-day gathering, which included 17 pool parties, a business expo, a comic-book convention, a film festival, an after-hours trip to a Disney water park (think dance music and guys in very small swimsuits), bobble-head painting and tie-dyeing for the kids, rivers of alcohol (and some other substances) for the adults and, on June 5, the great culmination: 20,000 to 30,000 lesbians, gays and their families and friends descending on Disney World, everyone clad in red shirts to signify their presence. Gay Days is now one of the largest gay-pride events in the world. It is the 20th anniversary of Gay Days at Disney, and the whole family has traveled from Hickory Corners, Mich., to celebrate. It's a typical Disney scene, except that Evan, Alix and their sister Jamie, a desultory 4-year-old shielded from the sun in a stroller, have come to the Magic Kingdom with their two moms. Alix is so excited, she can't even say what she wants to do. at Disney World for the first time, Alix, 10, and her brother Evan, 11, can barely contain their anticipation. Pretty much every child who walks up Main Street U.S.A.