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As a straight man, I'm not personally embarrassed for heterosexuals everywhere when straight girls flash their breasts for beads on Bourbon Street, straight college kids turn spring break into complete hedonism on beaches all over North America, or the latest popular celebrity has a legally-recognized heterosexual marriage which lasts only a few weeks. I don't feel gay people should be held to a double standard for outlandish behavior by straight people, many whom are looking any excuse not to recognize them as their equals.
The Gay Pride parade in NY started because of the riots in "Stonewall" in 1969. It is the celebration of being able to "be who you are", and not have to hide.
That is all.
They parades are way over the top, and just fun.
My 3 sons and thier girlfriends go with me every year and we have a blast.
I don't see how they are damaging to the community when all that is being done is having people out and having fun. We have enough misery in our lives already.
and on a side note, there are a lot of gays that have the spiked hair, piercings tatts and all that crap, and BTW, there are a lot of straight people that have the same.....
Tell me!!! Can I have a "Straight pride" parade? Not on your life could I. It would be considered anti gay and not allowed. The gay pride parades makes me sick. When I see what they are proud of I really have to wonder. Every kind of perversion imaginable is on full display as if these things deserve some kind of respect. These parades sure paint a pretty sordid picture of what the GLBT community is all about. There is a very glaring lack of anything wholesome, positive, good, decent or uplifting in these almost pornographic displays.
Among the straight community sex is a part of our lives but it's just a part. Maybe what? 10%, 5%, 2% or what ever. These displays by the gays make it seem they are obsessed with sex and that is the main thing that defines them and their lives. I would not like heteros who's lives are defined in such a manner and I don't like the gays that do it either.
No...you COULD have a parade (straight parade as long as it didn't exclude anyone) straight people often attend events with a gay focus. All kinds of groups have parades...this is nothing new, I think all that is required is a permit from the city.
Straight people tend to define gays by their sexuality...oh wait...sexual preference is the ONLY difference between gay and straight people....maybe JUST MAYBE that has a bit to do with some of what you see at the parades.
Yes, much of it is in poor taste but as someone else said its meant to be in good fun and I might also add the gay community has always been known for its campy outrageous events, I doubt many who attend are surprised.
In major cities gays are known for moving into marginal areas, investing and inturn raising property values in inner city neighborhoods. Having the gay (male) community move in with their money is a definate positive for existing property owners in those areas. Overlooked, economically disadvantaged, rundown neighborhoods become trendy desirable destinations and property values rise.
I think anyone who gets bent out of shape about the parade is just using it as an excuse to discriminate or hate.
Pride is just a few days of madness then the party goes back behind closed doors.
I don't think rational people base their unbiased opinions on that one annual event.
The gay community is well aware that it amuses their friends (supporters) and pleases their enemies (the people who assume these people do nothing else with their lives).
I think anyone who gets bent out of shape about the parade is just using it as an excuse to discriminate or hate.
Pride is just a few days of madness then the party goes back behind closed doors.
I don't think rational people base their unbiased opinions on that one annual event.
The gay community is well aware that it amuses their friends (supporters) and pleases their enemies (the people who assume these people do nothing else with their lives).
At the end of the day there is no such monolith as "the gay community," any more than there is a monolithic African-American/Latino or whatever community.
All of these types of parades are organized by committees that wrangle and fight amongst themselves, and row about who will and will not represent "the community," and finally what emerges is a carnivalesque hodge-podge of marchers who have a good time and provide an event that entertains many people...and gives a handful of professional haters yet another occasion to get a super-charge of endorphins.....and then bye-bye for another year.
No, comparing homosexuals to American Indians is insanity. You are talking about the heritage of people and not a lifestyle choice.
Anyone who still refers to homosexuality as a "lifestyle choice" is being ignorant, whether willfully or unintentionally. So tell us - when did you CHOOSE to be a heterosexual? I don't remember that moment, do you? It's not a choice, and it's not a lifestyle, so your comment fails on two levels.
lifestyle (ˈlaɪfˌstaɪl) — n
1. a set of attitudes, habits, or possessions associated with a particular person or group
2. such attitudes, etc, regarded as fashionable or desirable
If you still think this definition is applicable to homosexuality, please enlighten us on which attitudes, habits, possessions, etc, the entire gay community shares... I look forward to hearing your reply.
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I am sick of having members of the LGBT community compare themselves to black people and now American Indians and the struggle that both of those races had and still have today.
And I'm sick of people referring to sexual orientation as a "lifestyle choice," then in the next breath claiming they haven't endured any struggles or discrimination. Your post alone is a good example of what they deal with regularly, and that's just the BENIGN aspect of anti-gay discrimination.
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How many homosexuals/LGBT had to sit in the back of the bus, use separate restrooms, attended segregated schools, faced signs in the windows saving they were not allowed in an establishment and a million other restrictions? How many homosexuals/ were loaded on ships like animals and bought and sold? How many homosexuals/LGBT had their food supply practically eliminated, had disease implanted into their groups to kill them, had their land stolen, were continually lied to and practically destroyed?
I guess being legally fired for no reason (other than their orientation), excluded from receiving the benefits and rights of married heterosexuals, bullied/harassed, murdered en masse, etc, doesn't count? Since they didn't have the specific experiences you mention, their struggles against discrimination and hate mean nothing? Even here in the US many states offer ZERO protection for homosexuals who've been discriminated against, and in some countries they can be killed just for holding their partner's hand in public. Oh yeah, and as a Jewish person myself, I cannot forget how many of them died beside us in the concentration camps. But that's nothin', right?
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Sick of the comparison. And, not to mention that the LGBT community has so much hatred for themselves that it seeps out making them claim it comes from others if they don't want to pick up the cross for the LGBT community. When one betrays the morals they were taught and those of mainstream society, one will feel guilt and that cannot be legislated away. I am not going to sell out on my morals to support a lifestyle, in any way, in order to relieve any group of the guilt they feel about what they are doing. So, parade around if you must as it gives the opportunity for education about the lifestyle.
Clearly that education needs to become more widespread, since you still believe it's a lifestyle choice... and I'm sick of attitudes like yours too, but the beauty of freedom is that you AND they have the right to their opinions. They also have the right to use any comparisons they so desire, and all your whining about it cannot change that fact. Oh well!
My daughter marched in the pride parade last weekend in her city. She's not gay, but the bank she works for was one of the sponsors of the parade. Afterward, she worked in a booth that the bank had set up to advertise their services and get people to open accounts. She said they opened a number of new accounts that day.
So, in answer to the OP's title question, I'd say no. It sounds as if it was good for the community, at least the commercial part.
I think gay pride parade damages gays because it puts their lifestyle into question. I mean if I had a cheaters day parade where everyone who was a cheater gets to come out and dance in their underwear someone is going to criticisze me. And then I call those people intolerant and cheaterphobic for hating me. If you are in a controversial lifestyle, keep it to yourself otherwise people will criticisize you and you have no right to complain. Because its not fair someone can say they are pro gay and its all cool but no one can have a different opinion on that lifestyle or else they are hateful and bigotted. I'd prefer if we just went back to the days were gays were gay and no one bothered them and they were left alone and that was that.
I think gay pride parade damages gays because it puts their lifestyle into question. I mean if I had a cheaters day parade where everyone who was a cheater gets to come out and dance in their underwear someone is going to criticisze me. And then I call those people intolerant and cheaterphobic for hating me. If you are in a controversial lifestyle, keep it to yourself otherwise people will criticisize you and you have no right to complain. Because its not fair someone can say they are pro gay and its all cool but no one can have a different opinion on that lifestyle or else they are hateful and bigotted. I'd prefer if we just went back to the days were gays were gay and no one bothered them and they were left alone and that was that.
Those days did not exist. Gays were hiding their orientation and marrying women who had no clue that their husbands didn't really love them and had a secret life outside their marriage. You think that was a good thing? Really?
And who left them alone? They were beaten and murdered for being gay. Matthew Shepherd ring a bell? Still are--see recent events in NYC.
I agree that the over-the-top craziness displayed by some doesn't help the image any, but let's not revise history here. And it's not a "lifestyle". C'mon. That one's getting old and tired.
@mightqueen
1. Homosexuality is a lifestyle choice. Being attracted to men for a man is not a choice. However denying homosexuals have a unique culture and certain lifestyles is fantansy, they have their own lingo, code, terms, dress, ways to behave. Cheating is a lifestyle choice. We all have thoughts of it, or many of us do, but only some of us act on it. Those who cheat choose the lifestyle. Its not an insult or meant to be one, it just is what it is.
2. I don't think gays should be beaten or mistreated or harassed, I think they should just live their lives and no one bother them, like most cheaters. Its immoral but no need to rub it in their face. Just let them be but don't rub it in our face either. If you cheat good for you I don't care but when you start having a cheaters parade don't get angry if someone says cheating is wrong or I don't agree with the cheater lifestyle.
@ischryos, well thats what they use to say about gays, its a choice button up and fly right, you can think about men as long as you sleep with women. These sexual feelings are not really choices, they have heavy biological influences. Cheating is for the most part biologically ingrained in people just like being gay its not a choice, some people never think about cheating, and others can't stop themselves from cheating if their lives depended on it. You think people like tiger woods or kobe bryant or bill clinton cheat because they enjoy it? No, its something biological and studies are increasingly recognizing that. For most of us cheating is harder than being honest but not for a minority with biological differences. Saying to cheat is a choice is as offensive as saying to a gay sleeping with men is a choice
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