Gay Pride, Once Again, A Backward Stride

I’m not that much of a prude, the Gay Pride Parade in Chicago actually looks kind of fun.  But if their mission is to get people (not already open or tolerant of gays) to be more tolerant, they are missing their mark.  In fact, it probably moves the Gay Civil Rights movement back long before the days of the “Twinkie defense.”

The actual name of the Gay Pride Parade has been re-branded to the “Annual Pride Parade”.  As if they wanted to hide the fact that there could be a few gays showing up to and walking in the parade.  It is the 42^nd Annual Parade of its type in Chicago, which also makes no sense to me because if they re-branded it a few years ago, the numbers should start over, right?

The photo I took of the television summarizes everything that pops up in both the minds of gays and heterosexuals.  Especially, the minds of the heterosexuals they are aiming to gain support from.  I was a child of the 70’s and a teenager of the 80’s.  I have gay and lesbian friends and relatives.  I am aware of the issues and I am fully supportive of all of the rights this group deserves and their struggle to gain those rights.  But if their mission of selling their bill of rights to populations that don’t understand or are just ignorant of the issues, the guy dancing around in tights and a tutu, isn’t going to carry that message. 

During the parade, Terry Hemmert of WXRT, 93.1fm, stated that “we are all one people”.  And she is partly right, but gays won’t be able to feel that oneness until they stop having guys in tights and black tutus doing their PR work for them. (I say "partly" right because I believe that the gay population is much more diverse than the public and gay community gives themselves credit for.  It would be nice if we as humans could be one people, so that is why I partly agree with her) We all become one by being able to integrate our society.  By being able to fit in with what is morally appropriate in public to both children and adults.  The activities that carry on in that parade are strictly for adults.  It goes beyond acceptance and having an opened mind.  And again, it looks like a great time.  Everyone there should be able to express themselves and the exaggerations of their culture as long as it doesn’t cross legal limits.  Let me be clear, it isn’t for children. 

I grew up in a time where gays had to hide who they were.  My neighbors, both in their mid 70’s at the time, were lesbians who fell in love long before I ever moved into their neighborhood.  And although they didn’t have certain rights that I wish they could have had, they did have the luxury of being able to be accepted by all of the other neighbors by being morally appropriate.  Yes, they could have thrown their own pride parade and danced around the yard in leather bikinis, oiling themselves up and waving rainbow flags around, but those of us who didn’t understand, would have shunned them.  They represent the millions of gays and lesbians who don’t participate in these types of events because they know it only hurts their struggle to be free. 

I’ve had this discussion before.  And my gay and lesbian friends (usually the much younger ones, not committed in a relationship) often say that it’s about expression.  The exaggerations of gay and lesbian culture are pushed beyond the limit for the purpose of feeling free.  And my ongoing statement is that is all fun and good, and you have the right to do it.  But if in 100 years, gays are still in the same place with much of the same population that mistreats them today, they might need to look at these types of events and the unrealistic image it portrays.