ANTIPRIDE (MERGEDWITH)Pride ParadesAre they helping or holding back the LGBT movement

I feel the "over the top" antics at pride parades does more harm to "gay rights" than does anything else. The anti-gay community sees this as what is the typical gay guy and really motivates them to prevent gay rights issues. That is their image of gays, not: doctors, lawyers, actors, professional sports stars .. "just a bunch of fruit cakes wearing next to nothing and acting really faggy".

 

Maybe we'd be better served by Gay Awareness or Gay Understanding than Gay Pride?

 

Maybe we should all stop acting like a bunch of fucking fags and make homosexuality something to actually be proud of.

 

When I see some of these guys camping it up and carrying on at a Gay Pride event or in a gay bar, I can't help but wonder--where are these people on every other day of the year? What do they do when they're not surrounded by hundreds or thousands of other gay people? If you don't dress/act/talk like that at other times, why do it at the bar or the Gay Pride event?

I don't feel any need to camp it up, and I don't feel like I'm suppressing anything.

Being gay isn't a matter of what you wear (or don't wear) or acting like Auntie Mame or stomping around in leather. It's a matter of who you fall in love (or lust) with. It doesn't necessarily make you more (or less) talented or affect your taste in music or drinks or any other thing.

What seems to frustrate some of us is that these events--and especially the TV coverage of such events, which is all that many people see--focuses on some of the more flamboyant people in attendance. These aren't people that make it easier for our families and friends to understand us and where we're coming from.

I blame the TV stations. You could have a million people who aren't particularly unusual to look at present at Gay Pride, but if only one of that million people is a man dressed up as Cher, guess who the cameras gravitate to?

 

Despite my previous posts on this subject, sometimes I wish fags had to wear some type of identifying mark, similar to the Jews in Nazi's Germany. It is so hard to tell who the fags are these days. Everyone looks so...gay.

 

Maybe not HAVE to, but it would be useful for pretty much everyone if they did, wouldn't it. My mate wants to invent a genuine mechanical gaydar, for use in such situations.

The reason behind it is that straight fashion comes from gay fashion, which in turn comes from gay porn. So if you're in fashion now, you probably just look like a gay porn star from about 5 years ago.

 

Speaking of Gaydar, I have the worst one ever. For some reason, I think almost every guy is gay when I first meet them. Maybe we should brand "HOMO" into our foreheads. That would be a good convienence...

 

Branding homos: good for the phobes, good for the gays. Everyone's happy.

 

a gay gay guy.

 

So, first I'd like to say that 2007 has been a year of firsts for me in terms of being open with my sexuality.

A few weeks ago I decided to march in Winnipeg's Pride Parade and I had a blast. It was great to see a huge diversity of people taking part in the event. One thing I noticed that you never see in the media is how 'ordinary' a lot of the people are. The media tends to only show the more eccentric attendees and it forgets about everyone else. I thought it was great to see families showing their pride and support. Mothers and fathers supporting their LGBT* son or daughter. One of my co-workers enjoying the parade with his partner. There wasn't one protester either! Apparently in previous years there have been protesters and it is good to see that my city's residents are becoming more and more tolerant.

Unfortunately, I didn't bring my camera because I was going somewhere afterwards and I didn't want to lug it around. I scoured the Internet for pictures of the parade and I managed to find two with me in them!

Click to enlarge


Anyways, I just thought I'd share that with you. Now, on to the real point of this topic.

I've read a lot of debate about pride parades and whether or not they help or hinder the LGBT movement and I would like to discuss what others think of this.

Personally, I had a lot of fun. I think those that witnessed the parade first-hand had a great opportunity to see that we are all normal people. I worry though that the people who's only exposure to the parade were the local newspapers and TV stations, that they are being led to believe that the parade consisted of mostly people parading downtown in skimpy leather outfits or over-the-top costumes and thus making the assumption that LGBT people are all like that. Do I blame the eccentrics? No, not really. I blame the media for applying their typical slant and not reporting on the parade accurately. You could argue that crazyness attracts viewers but it's not like this kind of thing is big news. Just a simple local story that usually gets overshadowed by something bigger anyways so its not like it will destroy their ratings.

One other thing I guess to rant about. The skimpy outfits. I personally don't mind the outfits but it is a public place and there were a large number of younger people in the parade. Anywhere from infants in strollers to five year olds to younger teenagers to adults. Even though the skimpy costumes account for only a handful of people, I still think that maybe they should save those for the post-parade parties at the bars.

So all in all, I thought the parade was a lot of fun, it was good to see so many different people showing their pride, and there were a lot of cute guys. I think it is always a good thing to attend and represent yourself and others like you. The media is biased. Guys in leather jockstraps are hot but save it for the bar. That about sums it up.

Discuss

Ian

 

Wow thats really great! And I notice that in the first picture is a man (assumingly gay) with another man pushing a pram with a kid in it =]

I agree about what you say about the media. Before I saw the pictures, I immediately pictured a bunch of airy fairy gay dudes prancing about in pink leotards, but was pleasantly surprised. Like you said - it isn't the parade that contributes to the stereotypical gay image, but rather the way that the media portrays the event. Also, I agree that people shouldn't run around in skimpy outfits, but I guess that if they really want to, they should be allowed to. Seeing as there are so few of them as well, it hardly matters to have a little eccentric diversity among the crowd.

 

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