Rainbow Family: Seattle Couple Holds 'Mini-Pride' Parade With Son, Daughter

A gay couple in Seattle creatively celebrated the iconic Pride Parade with their children despite ongoing protests over the death of George Floyd in different cities and the threat of COVID-19 being imminent.

Ricky Shankar and his husband, Nic Marcheso, celebrated their sexuality and their inclusion in the LGBTQ community by having a “mini-Pride” parade together with their 4-year-old daughter, London, and one-year-old son, Roman.

Shankar and Marcheso decorated a kid's wagon with inflatable toys and accessories bearing the Pride colors. And with London and Roman sitting comfortably, the couple took their children on a “parade” around their Seattle neighborhood Saturday (June 13).

“Every year we go out to Pride and do the family stuff and it helps. We didn't want this year to go by without celebrating something,” Shankar told Good Morning America.

Pride Fest 2020 is just one of the many in-person celebrations that was canceled due to pandemic caused by COVID-19. Last month, the Capital City Pride board of directors canceled their postponed events and planned a series of virtual events including Silent Disco, Pet Parade, Fund Run 5K and Parade.

The next Pride Fest is scheduled on June 11-13, 2021, according to the Des Moines Register.

Shankar also said that their neighbors clapped and cheered “Happy Pride” when they saw them celebrating the annual parade as a family.

“We got to explain to our kids what allies were based on that moment. It really made such a difference to us,” he said, adding that they also talked about other sensitive issues like the ongoing protests and equal rights to London and Roman.

“We can talk as much as an almost 5-year-old and an almost 2-year-old can understand,” pointed Shankar.

Back in April, Shankar and Marcheso set up an ice cream shop at home for their children since businesses at the time are still closed because of the pandemic.

Shankar told Storyful that London had been asking to visit an ice cream shop “for weeks” but they were not able to do so due to stay-at-home orders to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

“We decided to make our own shop and change things up a bit here at our house. They haven't shown this much excitement in days so we all ended up having a nice time eating ice cream at our shop,” Shankar said.