What is with Gay pride parades??

Question

I am all for gay right: marriage, benefits, adoption, etc
But the gay pride parades I have seen make it look pretty ridiculous

If gays want to be accepted the same a hetero's, why dress in drag or buttless chaps and make a spectacle?

Answer 1

We can't control every gay person - no more than all straight people can be controlled. Have you seen a Mardi Gras parade - or have you heard of those clubs where straight people dress up like animals (furbies I think they are called), or have you ever watched Cheaters the show on TV that catches people in the act - the other week I saw them break up a straight orgy where one guys was dressed as a devil and this other guy was carrying around a goat.

TV focuses on the weird and stupid for ratings - we have weird and stupid people who are gay.


And BTW have you ever noticed that the guys in those buttless chaps are never the Jesse Metcalf type - they are always more the Quaker Oat man type - it would be easier for us ALL to take if at least they were hot! :-)

Answer 2

"But the gay pride parades I have seen make it look pretty ridiculous"

Then why did you go? You want to only accept people if they'll conform to *your* standards? That isn't acceptance - that's cracking the whip.

"If gays want to be accepted the same a hetero's, why dress in drag or buttless chaps and make a spectacle?"

After several hundred years of being told what to do, in 1969 some guys in New York got fed up with it and fought back. That's when pride parades got started. I think parades have gotten classier as time's gone by, but I respect anyone's way of expressing themselves. Noone's getting hurt. If you want to get upset, why not get upset over beatings and murders?

I know there are some people who use the "spectacle" of parades to justify their hate. They won't stop hating gays because gays do what they expect. Drag is what some guys do. It's part of being gay for some people. You want to live in a world that's uniformly gray and full of hate? I don't. So screw the haters.

Anyway, thanks for thinking about it. Your conditional support is appreciated, but your unconditional support would be better.

Answer 3

Honestly, (and I don't mean this in a harsh way at all) you only think this is ridiculous because heteronormativity. It's a big word that basically means that heterosexuals have set up roles and regulations for the way that you believe gender and sexuality should be expressed and any variation of that is ridiculous. Sorry, but in a world where you believe gender and sexuality are on a spectrum with tons of other identities, and the expression of that is beautiful and natural, drag and buttless chaps aren't strange at all. As a femme lesbian, I fit into the world very easily because I follow many of the "rules", but my friends and my partner aren't femme and wear short hair or baggy clothes and I love them very much. And the parades also make me happy because then I am around a bunch of people who understand me and understand the power of freedom and self expression. In our world, it is not a spectacle, it is a celebration.

By the way, all cultures have expressions that you may find ridiculous. Perhaps the American emphasis on political correctness won't let you make such racist and xenophobic comments, but just take a long hard look at yourself and your neighbors and you may find that everyone does things that the next person may find ridiculous. Maybe you'll begin to see the parades for the celebrating and not for the manner of celebration.

Answer 4

To understand the reason for the Pride Parade, you first have to understand a little history regarding how they started.

In June 1969, a group of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people rioted following a police raid on the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York City. The late Miss Sylvia Rivera, a transgender rights activist and founding member of both the Gay Liberation Front and the Gay Activists Alliance, is credited by many as the first to actually strike back at the police and, in doing so, spark the rebellion.

The Stonewall riots are generally considered to be the beginning of the modern gay rights movement, as it was the first time in modern history that a significant body of LGBT people resisted arrest for no other reason than they were gay.

In New York and Atlanta the annual day of celebration to commemorate the Stonewall Riot came to be called Gay Liberation Day; in San Francisco and Los Angeles it was called Gay Freedom Day. Both names spread as more and more cities and towns started holding similar celebrations.

In the 1980s there was a major cultural shift in the Stonewall Riot commemorations. The previous loosely organised, bottom-up marches and parades were taken over by more organised and less radical elements of the gay community. The marches began dropping "Liberation" and "Freedom" from their names under pressure from more conservative members of the community, replacing them with the philosophy of "Gay Pride". Marches celebrating Gay Pride (pride parades) are now celebrated worldwide.

Now days, most Pride Parades take on a festive or even Mardi Gras-like character. Large parades often involve floats, dancers, drag queens, and amplified music; but, even such celebratory parades usually include political and educational contingents, such as local politicians and marching groups from queer institutions of various kinds. It is a celebration of diversity within the GLBT community.

Not everyone within the gay community like or agree with the idea of Gay Pride Parades. Some reject the notion of gay pride, perceiving there is an undue emphasis on sexual orientation and a lack of discretion and modesty to the detriment of either public morals or the cause of gay rights.

Personally I find them to be a lot of fun and use the event as a personal celebration of my own life.

Answer 5

Because you are representing your lifestyle and being proud of who you are. There's nothing wrong with Gay Pride Parade. You can't be for gay rights, gay marriage,gay benefits nor gay adoption if you have a problem with the gay pride parade. Sorry.

Answer 6

Remember the press shows you the most flamboyant of all. Gay pride is the one place we can go with our partners and hold hands and just be us. That is if we don't what to push it in the faces of the hetros. Yes some people are out of hand but others of us just want a place to belong without problems. Hope this helps you see the normal side!!!!!

Answer 7

Everybody does it.

Take a look at MTV music videos and shows, motorcycle/car magazines, spring break on the beaches, any ordinary hot day on any ordinary beach, or the many other sources of similar public straight folks spectacle.

The only difference between homo pride parades and the rest is that homo pride is done just one day out of the entire year.

Answer 8

For the same reasons we all have independence day parades. Because you are proud to be american. Everyone wears or brings american flag symbols. This is how we celebrate. Now, when I go to pride I dont wear assless chaps or dress in drag but I do go for support. Because I am proud to be what I am. : )

Answer 9

GLBTQ Pride parades aren't all about wearing silly rainbow clothes and stuff, it is about so much more. The GLBTQ community has had people try to kill them and make them out to be confused people so the community had to come together to defend it's self. So they have. They fight for there equal rights are living creatures and children of God. They have educated people about what being "gay" means. Now every year the GLBTQ community likes to come together to have fun and show the pride in being who they are. It's just fun. Let them have there fun.

Answer 10

Its a celebration day and we express our selves. Don't think just because the straight community doesn't show it they are dressing like it. also when the media is there to take pictures why don't they take pictures of the people dressed regularly? Everything in the news is all the extreme dressing and outfits. I guess they just don't want to show people who look and dress like you. You really need to go back through history and tradition if you really want an understanding... Also please visit a drag show they are so much fun.