"Don't you bring me down."

Judging by the intensity of the whoops and laughter, this crowd was pretty much downer proof.

"It's all right/It's OK/We like people who are gay!" yelled The Radical Cheerleaders Hawai'i, a bouncing squad of five young women wearing black tops, hot pink "look at me!" skirts, and long colorful feather boas.

A military camouflage float titled Boyz on The Bay was a first Hawai'i entry from "Big Tom" Lombardo, who said he had produced floats for California gay parades in the past.

"I'm one who always said the Honolulu parade is too small," said Lomabardo, who has lived on O'ahu for four years. "So, this year I thought we'd better join in."

Behind Lombardo's float marched a group of men sporting an enormous boa made of 1,000 bright blue balloons, representing the water in the bay.

Ken Miller, chairman of Honolulu Gay Pride 2005, was fielding a barrage of cell phone calls, tending to parade concerns and simultaneously managing the Gay Pride Festival set to begin at McCoy Pavilion following the parade.

Last year, Miller said, the Gay Pride Festival had about 50 food, gift and information booths. This year, he said there are so many new booths — about 30 — that the festival spread from the indoor pavilion to the lawn and parking lot.

"It's not just about us," he said. "It is our parents and brothers and sisters who come out and support us. When they can see us like everybody else — like people — then I think we break down those barriers that keep us from being able to work together."

All of which was in keeping with this year's Pride theme: "Aloha Through Diversity."

Once the parade reached Waikiki, Clarence Carvalho, 79, of Mo'ili'ili, inched toward Kalakaua Avenue.

"Just checking it out," said Carvalho, as nearly a dozen female motorcyclists roared past him in a blast of sound.

"Those kinds of girls you don't want to mess around with. Too muscular. Besides, those motorcycles scare me."

Some spectators watched in fascination from a distance, too timid to get close.

"This is a great day for civil rights," shouted Bill Woods, who organized the first Gay Pride Parade in 1989. "Let's make a noise for civil rights! Aloha!"

"Aloha!" responded Carvalho and others.

But not everyone approves.

Brian Charles, 37, maintained a lone vigil by a stop sign near the parade's starting point, sandwiched between two 4-foot pieces of cardboard reading, "Gay Sex Is Sin Repent."

Charles, of Phoenix, Ariz., was initially reluctant to give his name, saying "Jesus is the only name you need to know."

Citing the Old Testament, Charles quoted passages he said condemned homosexuality.

Asked if he knew of anything Jesus had to say about the subject, Charles paused and thought.

"I don't think Jesus discusses it specifically," he concluded.