The more things change...

[ocnblu]

Yesterday after chickening out from going to Carlisle, I was driving around town aimlessly, when I came to an intersection adjacent to a park next to F&M university campus, and noticed several people standing around with rainbow-colored umbrellas in the hot sunshine. Then I looked again, and saw some protesters holding huge signs reciting Bible verses and yelling things like "if you masturbate to porn, God hates you!". "What the heck is THIS?" I said to myself. So I quickly found a parking spot and approached the gate. Sure enough, it was a Gay Pride festival, right here in little old Lancaster, our first. It was just getting started at the time, but the crowd steadily built while I was there for a couple of hours. I was surprised at the turnout, actually. I didn't see anyone I know. There were booths set up, lots of food wagons, a stage with good singers and comedians, and a pavilion next to it with horrible drag queens. The usual stuff from what I remember from the last of these festivals I attended... which was in 2002, I think, in Baltimore before moving here in '03.

Anyway, I felt it was a bit brave of me to go, as I'm not yet out at work or to family (groan). I was hoping to feel a sense of community there, but alas, I didn't strike up a conversation with anyone, and I left kind of depressed, as I ran the gauntlet of religious protesters (who all looked gay to me, AFAIK). I am just not into "the scene" I guess. I've never seen so many variations on a rainbow sticker as I did on the vehicles lining the streets, parked, around that event.

[CARBIZ]

This week marks a milestone of sorts for me: thirty years ago I left home (I was 17), moved to the Big Bad City and went to a gay bar for the first time. Anita Bryant was railing against fags in Florida, the Toronto Sun hated us, and I barely spoke to my parents.

Well, 30 years have passed. Is Anita Bryant still alive? Over a million people are expected at Toronto's Gay Pride this coming weekend. Gay people can get married in many countries (and divorced, too, I suppose.) My father is long dead and, well, I still don't speak to my mother. (Well, she did by a CR-V, y'know. ) The Toronto Sun now loves us. Publicly, at least, most accredited media won't disparage gay people, that is progress.

Times can change. It never ceases to amaze me the dichotomy that is America. For example, most polls in Europe and Canada, put church attendance in declining numbers somewhere around 30%, America's folk still have 50-60% church membership. For a country that can be so enlightened and can produce so much innovation, America can also be so full of hate and ignorance.

I am not as militant as I once was. Kissing my boyfriend on a crowded subway in 1978 was a blast; now, it is boring. I've always had two minds about our fight to become 'normal,' because I don't believe we are 'normal.' I like being different. It gives me a fresh perspective on the world. I don't see it through the same lens as do most people. I don't feel the compulsion in my gonads to propogate; I use them for something else. :AH-HA_wink: I fight for what is right because it is right, not because I am worried about my children's future. My actions are more selfless, IMO.

The time will come when being gay and being a student in highschool will be no big deal. You will ask a person of the same sex to go to the prom and he or she will accept or decline based on whether they like you or not and not freak out. In many respects, I suspect something will be lost, but I guess that is progress, too.

[ocnblu]

Oh I meant to note I saw a guy there in his 50's wearing an AllPar.com shirt.

[HarleyEarl]

Did you see any drag kings?....the lesbian version.

[ocnblu]

Um yeah there was a Latin drag king singing a duet with a drag queen. I was pretty much zoning out.

[regfootball]

as far as i'm concerned let the world masturbate all its wants.......

tastefully, in private of course...LOL

[ocnblu]

[loki]

for some reason there will always be a "group" that "hate is placed on"...it was blacks, the gays, now it's middle easterners....

human nature....?

[vonVeezelsnider]

Scapegoating will always be part of human nature... Everyone's moving on from Homosexuality to Middle Easterners, from there who knows

[HarleyEarl]

Of course, we all practice prejudice all the time. Some people don't like ugly people. I like GM and not Toyota.

I don't like loud cell phone users in public. I try to have an open mind towards dwarfs, but I just don't know any, so it's hard.

I think the word 'hate' is overused and not accurate mostly, alot of people are just mildly annoyed by any given thing.

And Blu, thanks for including 'drag kings', they are people too!...so much emphasis is on 'drag queens'.

Ahhh, girls wanting to be boys and boys wanting to be girls, it's a crazy, topsy turvy world, and well, it just makes it all the more

interesting.

[usonia]

I’ve always had sort of a schizophrenic attitude towards gay pride events. When I was first coming out multiple years ago, they were a source of comfort to me. The ‘safety in numbers’ thing helped me a lot and I’m grateful they were there. However, I was also always embarrassed by the behavior of some people at these events.

Now that I have been out for a long time and am comfortable with being gay, I rarely attend the pride events anymore. I’m glad they are still there for the people who might need them but I truly believe they’ve become more of an excuse for people to behave badly in public. You see people dressing and acting in ways they never do any other time of the year. That’s hardly a source of ‘pride’ for me. It’s just sad.

[Satty]

Scapegoating will always be part of human nature... Everyone's moving on from Homosexuality to Middle Easterners, from there who knows

Maybe gay Middle Easterners?

[ocnblu]

How about gay Middle Eastern Midwesterners?

[Drew Dowdell]

I stopped going to gay pride after I realized there was no pride parade for people with blue eyes.

[cletus8269]

Ahhh, girls wanting to be boys and boys wanting to be girls, it's a crazy, topsy turvy world, and well, it just makes it all the more

interesting.

except for my lola L-O-L-A lola hehe

[CARBIZ]

I’ve always had sort of a schizophrenic attitude towards gay pride events. When I was first coming out multiple years ago, they were a source of comfort to me. The ‘safety in numbers’ thing helped me a lot and I’m grateful they were there. However, I was also always embarrassed by the behavior of some people at these events.

Now that I have been out for a long time and am comfortable with being gay, I rarely attend the pride events anymore. I’m glad they are still there for the people who might need them but I truly believe they’ve become more of an excuse for people to behave badly in public. You see people dressing and acting in ways they never do any other time of the year. That’s hardly a source of ‘pride’ for me. It’s just sad.

Well, that's the point: gay people tend to go through different 'phases' in their comfort level with who they are. For a lot of younger gay people (or older ones who have been closetted all their life), the Pride Parade is a chance to feel empowerment. When Toronto had its first big Parade ('81), I was in the Parade itself and shouted myself hoarse. It was just a great feeling of inclusion.

I don't mind those who go over the top. For the most part, the straight people watching understand people are just having fun. Besides, it's not like people are shooting each other! A little nudity never hurt anyone. I had a good laugh about 10 years ago when a lesbian who looked like an Elvis reject, complete with ductail haircut and leather jacket, came over to give our lesbian friend, who was topless, $h! for being topless and giving 'us' a bad name. I thought, look at the pot calling the kettle black! A topless dyke (even though she was fat and gross) is less offensive to me than a woman who looks like a man, but c'est la vie!

Now that Toronto's Pride attracts more than a million people, it has grown too large and that is a bit of a turn off for me. Plus, all the corporate sponsorship is turning it into one big billboard. I prefered the smaller, more intimate Pride Days in the early '80s.

[the_yellow_dart]

Maybe gay Middle Easterners?

Don't you remember what Ahmadinejad said?

There are NO GAYS IN IRAN!!!!!!!!11111eleventy

:AH-HA_wink:

[CARBIZ]

Don't you remember what Ahmadinejad said?

There are NO GAYS IN IRAN!!!!!!!!11111eleventy

:AH-HA_wink:

Some of the stories coming out of Afghanistan by the Canadian military are illuminating. Every night, our soldiers observe a line of boys forming outside the police station. A few of the Afghani cops come out, make their selection and take several of the boys inside. Officially, they are doing petty office work, filing, etc., but unofficially they are providing sexual services. A co-worker I used to work with who was from Pakistan also said pretty much the same thing. Officially, homosexual acts are condemned in Muslim countries; however, in a society where every woman must be a virgin to get married, where are men going to get their 'kicks?' There's a ton of hypocrisy out there, but I guess to them, giving a 14 year old up the butt is not considered a 'homosexual act.'

Besides, many of the Middle Eastern gays end up here as 'refugees.' I've met more than my fair share of hot Middle Eastern guys over the years. :AH-HA_wink: Of course, none of their families know about them!