Are You Proud of Pride?
The climax of Vancouver Pride is this weekend.
The big parade goes down Denman and Beach on Sunday and while my best friend is gay, and I couldn’t be more proud of him, I won’t be at the parade.
Homophobes fear gay people thinking they’re over sexed perverts who want nothing more than to ass rape every man or child who walks by. Gays aren’t like that. They’re just like you. They’re just like me.
But go to the parade this weekend, and you’ll think they’re all topless cross dressing disco fiends who love to show off their washboard abs and big packages in tight spandex.
That’s not the message that needs to be spread.
To be gay means you do something different to get your rocks off – nothing more. You can be gay and be a sergeant. You can be gay and be a mayor. You can be gay and be a principal. You can be gay and be a president.
What happens in your pants, doesn’t change what happens in your head. But go to the parade and it will be all about ball gags and pierced nipples.
Sure, there is a segment of the gay population that is down with that, and good for you. But if you want to win people over to your side, show them you are just like them. Yes, you are different at night with the shades pulled tight, but when it comes right down to it – we’re all humans. We’re different, but the same.
I am proud of Chad. I am proud of Reg. I am proud of Darren. I am proud of Mark. I am proud of Lynn.
What about you, are you proud of Pride?
The Blog According to Buzz. Spread the word, ya heard?
Tags: events
See, this is why I’m more a fan of the Dyke March: it’s not Mardi Gras, it’s going for a walk in the neighbourhood. It’s more participatory and has a greater sense of community. It’s got funny signs and moms with strollers. (The tall chicks have way, way less makeup and are interested in me.)
Plus, let’s face it: much more sensible shoes.
that all said… maybe it needs a different name? Because the parade is an adult themed good time.
Maybe you’d like the Vic one more? Family friendly… really its just a parade just like the Oak Bay Tea Party parade or the Esquimalt Buccaneer Days parade and if there is one thing I think all communities need more of, its parties!
I dunno, parades need to be bright and colourful and exciting and flamboyant.
I’m not trying to be uptight on this one, I think it’s a good, fun time – I just don’t think it does anything to help open the minds of the haters.
Just tossing a balloon for some discussion here to see if someone can shine light in different corners of my closet to help me take a different perspective on this one. Not saying my opinion is right, or definite – just how I’ve felt about the parade for a few years now.
You’re right, it should be a party. Everyone’s having a good time. Or at least a loud time. At the same time, maybe it’s not about visibility anymore. At what point does something stop being a protest and start being a traditional event?
A couple decades ago, “we’re here, we’re queer; get used to it,” was necessary. And then the vast majority of people DID.
I’m certainly not so blind as to think that there isn’t inequity and injustice directed towards GLBT people every day, but Pride doesn’t change the mind of haters, and it probably never has much. What changes their mind is the opposite: day-to-day interaction:
“Oh, your son’s gay? The couple two doors down from me are too. Their kids sure raise a ruckus!”
As for Pride? Maybe its role is strictly symbolic at this point: “I’m wearing a feather boa and short shorts and I’m an accountant! Hilarious!”
So what does that make Caribana? They’re practically naked (and actually naked in some places) in their parades and yet…
Maybe its role is strictly symbolic at this point: “I’m wearing a feather boa and short shorts and I’m an accountant! Hilarious!”
agreed.
[...] On his blog this morning, Buzz Bishop posed the question: Are you proud of Pride? [...]
I went for the first time last year, it was a fun time, but I had the exact same problem you have with it. What it does is scares the people who are already questioning the ethics of the homosexual community, what they need to realize it’s a parade of sexual fetishes, of the hetero and homosexual variety.
I’m proud of my gay (and straight) friends, but I don’t need to see a flamboyant display of their bedroom practices on Robson Street on a sunday afternoon, just like I wouldn’t want to see the exact same practices of my straight friends on robson on a sunday.
This old article from the Onion seems appropriate
http://www.theonion.com/content/node/28491
Because of the overt sexuality, I will not take my daughter anywhere near the parade.
Would the sexual display be tolerated if it was being done straight men and woman?
They do in New Orleans at Mardi Gras.