It took me and our crack design team longer than usual to choose the cover for our pre-Pride issue.

New York DJs — and Prism highlights this year — Dave & Gerardo are so goddamn good-looking and adorable we had five solid, gorgeous shots to work with.

But one had too much gay-face; another was too silly. One could have been from a Sears catalogue it was so pose-y, and the other was too distant.

After much debate, we decided on the photo you see on the cover, and it was chosen purely because we could feel the love oozing off the couple when we looked at it. These are two boys happily in love at Pride. It doesn’t represent what we’re used to seeing, and that’s why I love it so much.
Get skinny! Beef up! Get a tan! Get a boyfriend! Dump your boyfriend! I think we can all agree that the typical Pride-prep propaganda is tired and done.

Pre-Pride is all about love (isn’t it odd that even just saying that is a sort of anarchist, punk statement?): loving your hair by visiting a local barbershop (as profiled inside), loving your face by protecting it properly (page 14) or loving your boyfriend, who you happen to DJ with at parties across North America.

Ain’t nothing wrong with wanting to look hot, since many of us will be wearing a lot less clothing over the fateful weekend. And it certainly isn’t a crime to get healthy before you punish your liver and body with all those celebratory delights. But let’s not forget that there’s nothing uncool about loving ourselves, our boyfriends and our friends as we are (and maybe our car-rental companies, which allow some of us to get the hell out of the city during Pride).

For many, this pressure doesn’t exist, and to them the entire concept of this column might be inconsequential. I know my biggest pre-Pride predicament is finding a bike shop with a free slot to tune my wheels, so I can get to as many parties as possible.

A new Whitney Houston song was released online on May 21, called “Celebrate,” and the anthem couldn’t be more appropriate as we get ready (or don’t) for the end of June. She sweetly sings, “Everybody’s been so uptight/and forgetting to live their life,” then her duet partner — Miss Jordin Sparks — pipes in with “Everybody’s been down on love/but finally things are looking up.” I really should have just printed the lyrics to this song to say everything I wanted to.
Phil Villeneuve