Dear Friends in Pride,

The germ of an idea that would become Swish began on the corner of Greenwich and Christopher streets during the 2002 NYC Pride March. I was enjoying the parade—shockingly, my first—with eight of my gay boyfriends. And it selfishly occurred to me: “How can I be in this parade?” I thought, “These men are such a big part of my life, socially and politically. I go shoe shopping with my gay friends, sing with them, march for them, talk about love and sex with them, quote Will and Grace with them, spend date nights with them. I’m a tried and true fag hag!”

That was it. I’d establish the first-ever fag hag float for the NYC Pride March 2003. It had never been done before—or since. And with the help of these wonderful men, and my sister hags and lesbians, Swish was born in the fall of 2002. And after our debut, fags and their hags from all of the world signed on as Swish supporters to celebrate this new community that had been created—one which they had never experienced before.

Today, Swish has evolved beyond hagdom into a powerful gay-straight alliance. We have been the subject of an internationally-acclaimed documentary by the queer filmmakers at Red Queen Productions and the best-selling book Fag Hag by Swedish journalist, Linda Leopold.  Along with our annual, award-winning NYC Pride experiences, Swish has participated in the 2007 and 2008 Atlanta Pride Marches and the EuroPride 2008 events in Stockholm, where we were the sole representatives from the U.S.

And our proudest accomplishment: Swish has supported dozens of LGBT-serving organizations around the world with volunteer hours, advocacy, and financial resources.

We have the pink, feminine, kitschy aesthetic—bringing fun back to activism the way that JT brought sexy back to sex. And our pride for our gay friends, both women and men, runs deep. Politically and spiritually, we are gay, through and through.

Many of us have lost gay friends and family before their time to AIDS, suicide, and hate-motivated violence.  It is their spirit, creativity, flair for the dramatic, and dreams for equality on which Swish thrives. Our first public outing on June 29 in the 2003 Pride March honored them. We know they were—and still are—watching us, all dolled up, from the big pride parade in the sky.

Why do you Swish?

With love, peace, and pride,

Sue Sena
President and Co-Founder