Pride vs. Progress

[Owen]

Thought I'd post this to get your thoughts on it.

+ YouTube Video

YouTube says that the video is no longer available.

[LOVEjames]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0sNTz18jMg

There's a link. <3

I'm formulating my thoughts on this... o.o It's not terribly easy to write out easily.

[Alex]

Hm ive always thought the gay pride parades was too much... a normal one just to get equal rights, fine i support that... i would even join one, but the pride parades are too much i think.

[LOVEjames]

Well, on one hand I agree with him, but in a much less conservative rude way. I think that it may hinder whatever progress we've made, but I don't dislike them for it. I believe that accepting a community involves accepting every aspect of that community, and the 'leather daddies' and 'twinks' are a part of our community and I accept them.

But the guy's tone in that video makes me so insanely angry. o.o Like, how can he, a gay man, say that about people? I just don't really get it. How can you refer to a fellow gay man as a 'faggot' and use it in a derogatory way?

[PopUpsSuck17]

Hmmmm. I dunno. I get where the guy is coming from. I don't support the whole rimming in the middle of the street thing, and I do sorta think of the whole thing as really obnoxious. I guess it wasn't too fun when my parents flipped on the TV and suddenly felt compelled to make some pretty big and rude generalizations about gay people. They're pretty okay with gay people normally, it's just kind of . . . right up in their faces and they see it as obnoxious.

And I also think that it emphasizes the differences between the LGBT people and straight people, which I don't really see as a plus. A lot of us are just like straight people, really, but it makes it look as though we're all totally different, and as though we don't mesh with their society.

But I don't feel too strongly about it, certainly not as much as the narrator did. If people want to be really flamboyant and dress up (or undress . . .) then go on right ahead. If it really makes people that happy, then I'm not one to stand in the way of their fulfillment.

[LOVEjames]

Well, the thing is... I've never really supported the whole "We're just like straight people" thing because it takes away what we're fighting for. We're fighting for equality as LGBT people, not as people who are LGBT and act heterosexual to please people and gain acceptance.

[Austin]

I pretty much agree with him. Some of the things done in gay pride parades are really uncalled for. I think all the people in thongs/half naked/cross dressing/dressed up very ODDLY. What is portrayed is that we are weird, perverted, sex-hungry, and creepy people. Thats in my own opinion anyways. I mean, people dressing up all in their underwear, costumes, etc gives us a stereotype that that is what we are all about.Why would we want to be known as 'weird' and 'sex-crazed.' Why don't we promote it like normal people, to show that we are normal people?

And yea... thats basically my opinion.

[PopUpsSuck17]

Originally Posted by LOVEjames

Well, the thing is... I've never really supported the whole "We're just like straight people" thing because it takes away what we're fighting for. We're fighting for equality as LGBT people, not as people who are LGBT and act heterosexual to please people and gain acceptance.

I guess . . . Yeah, for some people, that's who they are. And that's why I wasn't all "SHUT DOWN THE PARADES!!!" So if that's who the people are, then good for them and keep on going "Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." Doctor Suess is amazing!

I'm just saying that personally, I feel as though the only real difference between a straight person and me is that . . . I'm not straight, lol. I just have a different sexual orientation. And I think that there are more important things than sex, in the long run Like when I came out to my friends - I'm still me . . . I just like guys now. Oh well *shrugs*. The 'straight' me acted the same as the actual me does now, so . . . yeah. I'm just me