Just about everyone and their gay dog is stupefied by this year's Portland Pride parade route, which avoids most of the downtown arteries it typically travels, and instead snakes through the Pearl and Old Town, with its typical ending at Tom McCall Waterfront Park.

Here it is:

I'm marching this parade route myself this Sunday (secretly hoping some irate Mercury Queer Issue readers will mock-assault me again this year like last, that was awesome), and have mixed feelings about it. And Pride NW has gone to great lengths to defend the route-age amidst broiling opinions about it.

So - your comments? You braving the Parade? It's this Sunday, and steps off from Burnside and NW 13th at 11:30 am. The forecast calls for cloudy, chance of rain...