Pride NYC
 

this sunday is the pride parade in NYC, I'll be at 5th and 23rd prolly if anyone wants to meet up. Looks like its gonna be a blast ^_^

yay for pridizzle.

If I were anywhere near there, I'd absolutely come by.

I may be at the one in Atlanta on friday night.

I was convinced to go by two friends of mine and I have no idea what to expect.

i think it's pride week in toronto right now so i guess one of these days there will be some kind of big parade in the gay village. maybe that's where neil is..? haven't heard from him lately

when's Shame Week?

Probably just after people see footage of themselves at the pride parade;)

Toronto Chief of Police:

Gay Pride Parade ... I don't get it man. People want everybody treated equally, they want everybody to be blind when it comes to sexuality, and race, and gender, and what not .. but then at the same time, want to advertise it and announce as loudly as possible that they are different.

That's the typical statement. But Pride Parade is more than overtly showing everyone that they're different. It's showing that the population exists, and they are real people and a real presence in whatever city. There are a million reasons for it, and they just celebrate the ways that they are different in a public scenario instead of stuck in a basement club in short shorts shaking their hienies around with joe and jane average having no idea what they're doing.

former! chief of police.

"It's showing that the population exists, and they are real people and a real presence in whatever city."

I think that Gay Pride Parades do nothing but show that they are not "real people." Examples:







Just three pictures out of hundreds of pictures when you google "Gay Pride Parade." I could give a shit when people want to make it known that they exist in a city or area ... Whether it's lobbying, running campaigns, making advertisements. But from the perspective of the typical American who really could give a shit about gays, having a parade where people dance around in ridiculous, nearly-illegal outfits, publicizing what should be something private... I think it makes them look like an UNreal group of mental patients.

ANd those parades are rarely celebrating the ways that they are different. Last year it seemed like everybody wanted to make the case that the only difference between homosexuals and heterosexuals is that homosexuals simply like people of their own sex... and that the love is real and genuine, and that nothing else is different. However, when Gay Pride Parades advertise homosexuality as people clowns pushing dogs, naked men on floats, and frivolous guys wearing next to nothing and dancing provocatively in public with one another ... it sends a very different message. The notion of having a parade, itself, to separate homosexuals and heterosexuals undermines any efforts for others to see anybody else as simply "people." Everybody calls for society to be blind, but then do as much in their power to make themselves stand out apart from everything else.

If Gay Pride Parades were all about solidarity and togetherness in the community, then that'd be great, I'd have absolutely no issue with it (and I really don't have any issue with it now)... but... when what is celebrated most is a ridiculous flandering of skin and pompous difference ... it's audacious. I've yet to have a parade with my girlfriend where we publicize and simulate our sexuality ... and if I did, we'd probably be arrested. Doing the same at a Gay Pride Parade is celebrated, and if anybody were arrested, it would be a hate crime.

--edit--

Why should Joe or Jane Average have to know what people are doing? I don't think that Joe and Jane Average setup nationally televised and advertised events proclaiming their sexual misadventures ... I don't see why who somebody likes to have sex with should be a public affair ... worthy of celebration.

I'm with Mike on this one. Gay Pride events liberate the gay community, but they alienate them from everyone else. If there was a Straight Pride parade held in some big city people would have a fit. Just like if there was a Caucasian Pride parade, although cultural/heritage pride parades are much more appropriate.

I think we all have some sort of "gaydar". If a gay person wearing similar clothes as me told me he was gay I'd respect it. If a half naked man ran up to me on the street and danced around while telling me he was gay I'd be so fucking annoyed and I wouldn't want to be seen around them. It's OK to be different, but don't forget that there are other people around you as well.

Maybe I should've said it this way. It's important to the gay community. So who cares.

As part of the community, I appreciate the exposure that it brings, and I'm not the one in the short shorts or parading around without a shirt on, I'm not in the business of slapping people in the face with my pride. But in smaller places (ie: not toronto) the community showing it's face IS a big step. Like Edmonton, Alberta for example. I'm not offending anyone, so I don't see why I should be discouraged in taking part of something that doesn't offend me. *shrug*

it's easy for me to say it doesn't bother me because i live in the middle of nowhere, but if i was living in the a bigger city and it was thrown in my face, like raub said, i feel it might be a little annoying. but i can't really say either way except that its good that people can get together to celebrate who they are, it just doesnt need to fill in the blatant stereotypes most older people have and will never stop believing. i get annoyed whenever a stereotype is fulfilled. at magfest last year, there were a lot of cool people, but there were also the "convention" people, the uber nerd assholes who complained that the minibosses played too long and held up their cosplay show. or when i go to a concert and see the people who have become obsessed with the image of the fans of the band less so than liking the music themselves...or the big fat shitheads who just come to mosh and hurt people. this isn't indicative of the majority of the population, but often times these are the people inadvertently representing it.

ah loosen up, party boys

gay pride parades are important in terms of getting attention and being noticed. i don't think they do much in terms of acceptance. there are a lot of people out there who have absolutely no problem with gays, but they do have a problem with flamboyant gays. so while the community may think it's important it's really for the wrong reasons. i'm all for being different and individuality, but i also think there is, and should be, a decent universal public behavior. for example, my mom was telling me that there was a girl that applied as a receptionist at her office who met all the qualifications. but, she asked if all her piercings (i think more than our friend Jesse) would be a problem, and they most definitely would so she didn't get the job. it's ok to act how you want around like-minded people or people who can accept that behavior, but when you go into a public setting you should know how to tame it down. i like to be really vulgar with my friends, but i know some people just don't like that, so i try to act politely when i'm in a different setting. being an individual is more than just being "who you are", it's being a dynamic person who can adapt to different social settings while still retaining their own beliefs and opinions.

Something being important to a particular community cannot be justification enough to let it pass. Lynching Black people was important to the KKK community. Now while Gay pride parades are not Klan rallies... though it'd be funny if they were ... it seems that they're counter-productive.

I just don't see why it has to have exposure. I don't feel the need to advertise who I prefer to have sex with... I don't see the need for anybody else. As an individual, a heterosexual person and a homosexual person are just as unique... they like the same things, they love for the same reasons, and have a very similar way of life... at least, that's the census from the last two years. So why should one person be less proud, and why should one person feel that they need to display who they like by walking around dressed up as a clown? Why is one deserving of exposure?

I couldn't agree more with Raub. When I watch movies in my house, I LOVE yelling "FIRE" in the middle of them and going absolutely crazy in my house, running all around. IT's one of the few things I really enjoy doing, and nobody cares. But, people really don't like when I go to movie theaters and yell "FIRE" in the middle of them... so I usually don't.

Someone throw something in here for me an Mike to disagree on, cus I feel really weird right now.

What it boils down to seems to be this. You guys think that gays shouldn't act flamboyantly gay in public.

I can't even argue against that, it's ridiculous. If there is a small amount of the population who are douchey in their representation of the whole, who the fuck cares. Similar to those idiots who get more excited of the image of a band instead of seeing or enjoying the bands music, there are gay people who are so excited about representing the most flamboyant end of the bell curve of gay society, that they go a little overboard. That is their right. If that's how they choose to present themselves, power to them. Same to the idiots with the music. It's not my place to say how they should enjoy music or how they should dress.

A lot of the people in pride parades that you don't see on the news are just walking with maybe a rainbow painted on an arm and holding the hand of their partner, marching in support of the idea of the pride parade. After the parade there are usually events where you have the oppertunity to learn about gay friendly events in your area and stuff like that. There isn't a gay clubhouse where we all meet and decide stuff, so it's good to have an oppertunity to meet people who are similar to you. Of course there are going to be idiots dressed up certain ways and making the general population look silly, but who cares, it would happen anyway. Sort of the, I will never support that, but I support the right to do it.

Mike: Of course you don't have to advertise who you sleep with. It's fucking obvious because it's the norm. Black people don't have to wear pride pins because they're BLACK and you can see it. They're a MINORITY. You sleep with women. Of course you don't have to have a pride parade because you're in the majority and you don't get discriminated against because of that. If you want to have a parade expressing your pride in enjoying Vagina, fuck it, I'll join you. But gays are in the minority and deserve the right to at the very least show their numbers in a public setting, so that Joe McDuff of Rural wherevertown can actually be shown that gay people exist. And don't give me the shit that everyone knows gay people exist, they don't. When I came out to my parents, my Mom confessed that she thought it was the sort of thing that happened on TV, and she'd never honestly encountered someone who was openly gay.

It is an important event so that people can watch the news and say "Oh, wow. Look at that, there's a bunch of gay people in our town." It's for gay people to congregate and not be afraid of the paradigms that exist in a lot of the rural places and unite in a cause of being a recognized population that shouldn't be ignored. If gay people want rights such as marriage, they (we) should be showing that we are a significant portion of the population that can't be overlooked.

It's nothing at all like the KKK. The KKK deserve no recognition for what they are or what they do. Look at it more this way, think of a group of cancer survivors who get together for meetings as a part of recouperation and healing and adjusting back to their regular lives, or even perhaps if they're still going through treatments or whatever. Now, these people have a right to be recognized, if, for example, they were lobbying for money in Cancer research. They would want their numbers to be known. Freedom is a right that we have in America and Canada, and if they wanted to have a parade of some sort, why shouldn't they be able to be? Cancer victims are another minority that would get less attention if people didn't actively campaign for money for more cancer research or for individuals with cancer to get money to pay for treatments or WHATEVER.

The point is, they're a part of the population that deserves to be recognized, and just because of some of the outfits offend your delicate sensibilities you think that they don't deserve a parade.

wtf is so offensive about this?
http://www.prideedmonton.org/2004%20...photos/CSF.jpg
http://www.prideedmonton.org/2004%20...tos/lambda.jpg
http://www.prideedmonton.org/2004%20...ephotos/LC.jpg

Source: http://www.prideedmonton.org/2004-Parade%20route.htm