Well, we should all know that June is pride month. I just attended my first pride parade, and I even marched in it with the local gay youth group! It was a blast, made me proud to be gay. Nothing like a park full of rainbows and guys holding hands. What does everyone do to be pride-full in this wonderful month? (I guess mostly directed to the people who are out..)
I'm taking my 'nobody knows I'm gay' shirt to college (Catholic University) and painting my car like a rainbow. Sorry, I don't really like the whole gay pride... it's like... what are you pride of... it's not something you accomplished... it just IS!... there is nothing you can do to change it... it's like saying you are proud your skin is white, or you were born in a certain country. Anyway, that's MY point of view and I don't expect to start a war over this, because I know many will disagree.
While i think gay pride is more a symbol of escaping the expectations of the homophobic community and saying 'hey, I'm gay, and thats normal!', I agree with goratrix on this one.
True, gay pride is all about being yourself and showing that you aren't afraid to be yourself even if there are those who'd beat you down for it. I think it sends a strong message that bigotry won't be tolerated by the community. My favorite part about the event I attended was that there were so many non-stereotypical people there. Just everyday looking people holding hands with the person that they love. Also, the more noise that people make saying that being gay is as normal as being left handed means the more diverse and understanding the world will become. How can that be a bad thing? Another forum I belong to just started a thread about this kid's adventure in coming out: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?useaction=blog.ListAll&friendID=7428306 . If being self-boastful and arrogant means such things don't have to happen in the future, I hope history will forgive such social sins..
I tend to think of gay pride as to just being proud that you are gay and telling people that you are happy for who you are. You are telling the homophobic society that you like the way you are and are not going to change. And instead of letting people put you down because you are gay and "different", you stand up for yourself and that is where the pride comes from. I myself, being asian, have asian pride as well. I accept myself for being different and am happy that I am part of a different culture than many other people. I'm happy that I eat rice almost everyday, I'm happy that I have thousands of cousins (ok not really, maybe hundreds ), I'm happy that in every chinese party I go to, there are at least 3 mahjong tables playing, there are kids running around, there are video games being played, there are people yelling and lauging, and we just form this nice community because everyone knows everyone else. So I think, that the nature of "pride" comes from you accepting yourself and being happy about your "differenciality" (is that a word?).
Hey all... Yeah, I went to the Pride parade here in DC (which is a big deal in this city!) and it was cool... I used to think that "pride" was stupid, being that it's who we are and stuff... but I think it's more useful now as a show of force against bigotry, etc. Like, in this year's parade the biggest cheers went to people supporting same-sex marriage and the allies marching in the parade with signs like "God made me perfect" and "We love our gay son" (yay PFLAG!) But the month is just an opportunity, maybe if not to have "pride" than to expose the gay community to others who may not be so accepting of gay people or, more likely, just don't understand who we are. (Note to parade organizers... next time use fewer queens. I bet as a percentage of fags, queens make up less than 3.4%, and yes, that's just an estimate. :lol: ) -CK
coulnd't help it! Ok, I eat rice almost every day because I like it! I love mahjong (sp?) but I can only play at my computer (I don't really know how the rules... so I let the computer take care of that for me... XD) And I don't go to parties (boring, I know). I love every single one of my cousins, but it's true... they are just.. 6. Anyway... you are making my point exactly! you are proud of who you are! you are proud of what you've become! and that is right!. However, you are you proud of the shape of your eyes? (forgive the superficiality of this question, no offense meant) I don't know... I am proud of being a good guy, trustworthy, even a nerd (which I worked really hard to become!) but I'm not proud my hair is red... or my eyes are green... However, I AM happy being who I am... and I AM proud of accomplishing de most difficult task of achieveing that happiness...
To celebrate being gay, you almost are celebrating an accomplishment.. People that are still in the closet don't march in pride parades or paint their faces rainbow because they don't want people to know. Coming out is harder for some than others, and participating in a community march for equality could definitely be seen as an accomplishment. Another forum I'm on, there is this one guy who is deathly against gay pride. He feels that it drives a wedge between the glbt community and the rest of society by putting us on a platform. It worked in the past to show that we are just normal people trying to lead normal lives, and that it is no longer needed. However, specially where I live, we are not seen as equals in the eyes of most people. Just yesterday, there was a senator trying to collect funding on the basis that he is anti-gay. Luckily, with the timing of the parade and party, and a well planned protest, this senator only got half the amount of funding he did last year.
I really don't care much about the gay pride. I understand all your points of view, it's probably the best way of showing off to the rest of the society, though the "pride" concept isn't probably the best choice. In my point of view a good motto would be 'tolerance', for instance. Not 'pride'. OK, that's probably not the smartest remark I'm able to write, but I don't feel creative today. Anyway, the thing is that the gay pride celebrations are here for good. I think that here there is a parade in November (now it's winter and it isn't very pleasant to stay outside, you know). It's a very "picturesque" celebration, full of queens, transvestites, huge inflatable penises and angry mobs trying to destroy Buenos Aires' Catholic Cathedral. Certainly not a gathering where I'd feel comfortable. Hmm, I would support the mobs against the Catholic Church though... their influence here in our country is totally annoying and regressive. No offense to catholics, I used to be one
Yeah.. I wouldn't want to support that type of gay pride either. I think it's great that every type of person in your glbt community comes out to the event, but gaining mob status probably doesn't help anything. I loved the pride event in my state because it was peaceful and fun. If there wasn't a million and one rainbow flags everywhere, I might have mistaken it for some other type of event. After reading some news articles about the event, it certainly made a great impact.
I would probably just go with "happy about your distinctiveness." Or even "difference." Differenciality is cute, though, but difficult to say. :lol:
I think being "proud" in the gay context is being proud you haven't slashed your wrists growing up despite all the people out there who tell you you're an abomination, or (less extremely) that you've managed to create a good life for yourself despite some of the obvious hardships that you being gay has required you to face. It's really more about community and coming together as a group than it is about anything else. Pride here in Vancouver is the beginning of August/end of July (to ensure the weather actually might be good) and it's a really neat event that seems a lot more community-oriented than the big Pride parades I've heard about or seen. I've been every year for, well, a few years. *grin* That being said, I'm going to New York for their Pride the weekend after next and I expect that'll be fun in its own special huge and American way. Basically, gay people are made to feel ashamed of ourselves constantly throughout our lives, so it's no surprise to me that we as a group developed an annual celebration where, for one day or weekend or even week, we could focus on feeling good about ourselves and our sexuality. All sorts of other minority groups celebrate their diversity, so why shouldn't we? And given that the main treatment of what makes us a minority is the denigration of who we fall in love with, why shouldn't that celebration be one of pride? I'm proud of a lot of things I've accomplished but the single most important thing I EVER did for myself was to come out, and it is the single most influential facet of who I am, informing just about everything I do directly or indirectly. And I've come to realise that other gay people don't feel so strongly about their sexuality and that's understandable--we are all different--but I don't think that's a good reason not to let the people for whom it is important have their 15 minutes in the spotlight. (Quite coincidentally, Madonna's Vogue just came up on my playlist.)
haha. Yeah, I've been restraining myself from reading that forum to stop me from getting all pissy lol.
<tempting>oh, come on! if there is no opposing point of view there is not much fun in the discussion...</tempting>
