Time for a new kind of Pride?

I've never been to a parade. With the whole debate of "it makes us look bad" vs. "this is who we are," I think it's both. Those who feel it makes us look bad feel that way because they know outsiders are looking at the ridiculous side of the parades as "this is how they want to be seen" and therefore don't take gay people, gay rights and all that seriously. So you start to have gay people who don't like the parades because they interfere with the more serious gay issues.

At the same time though, the flamboyant colorful silly-ness is a part of the LGBT community. There are people in the community who are like that. It would be wrong to ask them tone themselves down or not act natural because of what outsiders are going to think. For them, that is who they are and it's not really their problem if outsiders judge the whole community based on that one aspect.

Also, there are serious aspects being shown in the parades, I assume it's not all dragged out ladies and gents in leather chaps and motorcycles. The important issues are out there being represented too, I think they just get overshadowed by the silly not serious stuff. Unfortunately people, especially outsiders who are probably on the fence on how they feel about LGBT anything, latch on to whatever is loudest and form an opinion.

I would like to go to a parade one day. I understand why people don't like them, but at the same time it's other people's problem if they decide to judge all gay people based on how a group of them act during party hour. So I support the parades. I think the camp and kink is fun to look at it and support that too. I only wish that the more serious stuff was the forefront of attention, but I understand that you can't control where people look.

 

My problem with this line of thinking is its like saying, "Its okay to be gay, as long as you act like straight people."

 

I think that considering the wants of an individual (particularly the ones you don't know) on such a high scale is ludacris. I listen to people and accept their opinions whether I agree with them or not. What it comes down to is that people will do what they want to fight for what they believe in, which is why mankind has come so far in the first place. The more diversity, the better, natural selection is a prime example of this. The more diversity, the higher the survival rate. These people can do what they like as far as I am concerned but I don't think that it is such a huge issue.

 

I've only been to two pride celebrations, but for the most part I saw people with their families, and I also saw people at one protesting how "mainstream" it had gotten. A lot of Carnival/Mardi Gras celebrations also feature half-naked people in outrageous costumes, but I don't see people complaining about how they make Christians and straight people look bad.

 

Well the Carnival/Mardi Gras things don't really have a purpose and don't have any higher goals, unlike pride parades which can influence very important issues. Those things are about sex and partying. Should pride parades also be about sex and partying?

 

Well, yes

Or, to be more exact: Pride parades should be about changing the world.... while still having a good time. Pushing for higher goals does not mean you need to be entirely serious all the time.

 

I don't think Pride parades have anything to do with influencing important issues, I think it has to do with showing we can all be who we are, dress how we wanna dress, just overall being able to go this extreme -- to celebrate all that, that you can be "different".

 

When I first started to come out I thought these sounded horrible! but now I kind of like the idea as these parades arnt just about kinky stuff its about colour and expressing ourselves, i personally am not into this but think its cool that people who are are allowed to express themselves