Hilt and Helm Fencing Club Marches in Pittsburgh Pride Revolution March 2022
On Saturday June 4th, Hilt and Helm Fencing’s class was cancelled because we were marching in Pittsburgh Pride’s march through the city. To my knowledge we are the first HEMA club in Pittsburgh to march in a gay pride parade. When we put out an event invitation, a whopping 41 people indicated that they were coming to march with us, some of which were even out of towners!
In preparation, we made a couple of purchases. A wagon to haul water in, a bunch of awesome fliers to hand out, a flag with our logo on it, 5 more capes so we could complete the rainbow, and enough water for everyone who said they were coming. I let people know they didn’t need to wear their full kit due to the heat and that just wearing a t-shirt with our logo on it was sufficient, but I was going to march in my full kit … because I’m a crazy person. We brought 3 full kits worth of gear and weapons for people who were as crazy as I was. I also brought my boom box to play cool battle music as we marched. I had this vision in my head of two of us mock fighting as the parade marched on! I had planned for everything and was determined to make our club’s first outing in this parade a memorable one!
On that fateful day, I put out a group message that we were at Grant and 3rd to rally the troops! And so my husband Shawn and I waited… And waited… Eventually Panda Ray found us. It wasn’t until the march was 10 minutes from starting that I realized … this was it. Still though, we came to march (damn it!) and that’s what we were going to do. I got him a sword, buckler, and a fancy cape and away we went!
Now you may be wondering, “Chris! This was weeks ago! Why are you posting this so late?” Well … with there only being 3 of us, my plan to have someone run ahead and take pictures back fired. My other plan to have someone not wielding a weapon pull the wagon full of water also back fired. So I figured, I’ll wait a little while and see if pictures of the three sword wielding crazy people would appear online somewhere. Sadly that plan back fired to.
If you’re wondering if I felt disappointed, the answer is most certainly yes … but also no. I’ve said it several times before: “I’m the Jarl, not the Czar. I can’t command people to do things.” Whenever you invite people to things on Facebook you can never truly trust that everyone who says they are going to come are actually going to come. But the shear number of people who said they were coming who didn’t was definitely disheartening. Furthermore that wagon was heavy as shit and I firmly regret deciding to march in that hot ass outfit. Once we got over the bridge, we were supposed to march all the way to the park in northside, but we were entirely too hot and tired for that. So am I disappointed that things didn’t pan out the way they did in my head. Oh yeah. Big time. Next year we’re just wearing helmet, gloves, and holding our weapons. It is waaay to hot for that shit. The boom box is staying home. And I’m bringing a much smaller cooler!
But do I regret marching? Absolutely not! Though I couldn’t find any pictures of us online, we got a load of attention. The pictures people took of us will live on in their memories and icloud photo albums. I gave our club members the chance to march with pride, and although only one person took the opportunity it meant the world to him to be able to represent his fencing club. We even hung out afterwards and checked out the art festival.
So although the event didn’t happen the way that I planned it, it still happened and will happen again next year and the year after that! Hilt and Helm is here to slay! We’re here, we’re queer, and we’ll stab you!