Do you really have Pride?

Question

IF SO FIGHT FOR IT!
New York's highest court delivered its decision on
whether same-sex couples have the right to marry and they said our families DO NOT deserve the protections of marriage.
----->Tonight, there will be a rally at 6 PM at Sheridan Square (west 4th Street and 6th Avenue). Because of this landmark decision, we need you to come out TONIGHT in order to tell our legislators and all New Yorkers that this decision is not good for New York.
Pride is just not about parties and parades, its about being proud enough to stand up for who you are and fight for your rights! DO YOU HAVE PRIDE???

Answer 1

Believing in God is my pride and believing in every word he says. OOps! this was about same sex marriage sorry I'm not gay.

Answer 2

It seems odd to me that one would be proud about with whom one has sexual relations. I certainly am happy to have met the person I am with, and I feel extremely lucky, but proud? I do have a lot of respect for the institution of marriage, and it seems clear to me that the majority of Americans feel the same way, no matter whether they are in red or blue states. I am proud of the New York court for making a decision based on law, rather than one that redefines marriage to accommodate a powerful lobby.

Answer 3

I have Pride. Human pride. And I guess I can say that I am proud that I have the boyfriend that I have...he is HOT, at least in my opinion, so why not be proud of that? I can be seen with him and my friends will inform me that I seem to have impeccable taste in men, so again, why not be proud of that?

But in relation to more socio-political aspects of being who I am and what I am, I don't think it's a matter of pride so much as a matter of dignity. If the belief is that all people are created equal, then ALL people deserve equal rights, regardless of sexual orientation, ethnicity, religious (or non-religious) conviction, political party, hair color, shoe size, or any of that other stuff. The fact that "Pride" gets lumped into socio-political issues is an unfortunate side effect of an unfortunate assumption.

Straight people are actually the ones who have worked to "define" LGBT "Pride" more than LGBT people, and too many LGBT people have bought into that definition without even thinking about it. It's straights to say we are "Proud" to be what we are, and all you have to do is go to a Gay Pride celebration in order to see that as a community, LGBT people have bought into that. VERY FEW "Gay Pride" celebrations actually celebrate the non-sexualized elements of what it is to be what we are. Very few emphasize our inherent (albeit FABULOUSLY expressed) humanity.

On the flipside of that, I think it's actually necessary that we DO buy into that paradigm--to a certain degree--because there is such a thing as Straight Pride. They don't call it that, but if so many people weren't "PROUD" to be straight, then they'd be more willing to see that there are other forms of existence. In order to be threatened by the presence of someone different than yourself, you have to be proud of what you are and see what you are as being worth defending against "the opposition." So it's this element of pride that I think needs to be looked at in greater detail.

In the description of your question above, you state: "Pride is just not about parties and parades, its about being proud enough to stand up for who you are and fight for your rights!"

I agree with that, unconditionally; but I would also qualify the whole general "pride" statement by more explicitly stating the personal pride element. I am proud of the fact that my boyfriend is hot...I am proud of the fact that I have made the choice to be a law-abiding citizen. I am proud of everything that I have made a choice to be. But I am NOT proud of matters of genetics. I didn't choose to be a member of my particular ethnic group; I didn't choose to be a guy; I didn't choose to be good looking; I didn't choose to be gay...but for each of those examples, I LOVE the fact that I am those things.

Yes, I DO have pride. I'm an effin' good (though not yet published) science fiction writer and a pretty darn good bartender. I'm gonna soon be a really cool English teacher in Russia; I read MOST of the Russian classics and quite a few really obscure and hard to understand works of American literature; I'm educated, I'm cosmopolitan...THOSE are the things that I am proud of.

I'm also Gay, Black, Male, American; which means that I am Human. Pride doesn't enter into that, becaue I had no choice in BECOMING any of those things, it's just the way that my incredibly good fortune turned out. As a HUMAN, I will adamantly, and unquestionably fight for the species-granted right to be acknowledged and respected as such by other members of the species.

Answer 4

Pride is different than equality. You do not deserve rights because you have "Pride", you deserve rights because you are equal.

Answer 5

i'm not of the orientation that you are, but i would be standing right next to you if i didnt live in ohio. i went to the rally in cleveland and had all these guys hittin on me till i told them i'm straight. they looked at my like why was i there. i told them this is one of my bestfiends next to me (my home girl) and i'm suporting her, and i'm condeming hate. it was funny as hell to see the looks on there faces.

Answer 6

I do. i have a gf of 4 months now.

Answer 7

no