Do gay pride parades hurt gay rights?

[Texacon]

Gays should be able to do anything they want in public and you should be tolerant

IndyPragmatist (199 posts)      Sat Jun-11-11 09:44 AM
Original message

Do gay pride parades hurt gay rights?
 
I just got home from grabbing my morning coffee, and as I was waiting for my drink, I overheard a conversation between an elderly couple.

Note: I live in what most people consider the "gay neighborhood" in town.

There is a gay pride parade going on today and this couple was talking about the parade. The woman made a really interesting comment "I support gays in every way possible, but seeing men walking down the street almost naked really makes me uncomfortable."

I found this really interesting because everyone in this part of town is pretty much for equal rights. However, the pride parade today obviously makes this elderly couple uncomfortable. As a heterosexual male, I completely understand why they would want a pride parade. However, I've never understood why these parades tend to go to the extreme with very little clothing and such. I can understand why this couple is uncomfortable.

To me, it seems like the people on the fence on gay rights issues are the ones that are uncomfortable about it. They want equal rights for everyone, but they are creeped out by some of the stuff that goes on at these events. If a bunch of heterosexual couples were walking down the street in their underwear, I'm sure a lot of people would be upset about it and feel uncomfortable.

Am I crazy? I just look at this event, and know that it will be a big story on the news today. For many people living in the suburbs, they may only know a couple homosexual people. So they turn on the news and they see this over the top parade celebrating gay culture and gay pride. I would think that many people would think that the actions of this parade are what gays are like always.

There is a huge amount of people that grew up being told that gays were going to hell and they were immoral and didnt deserve rights. However, life experience has shown them otherwise. THey have probably met some gay people in their lives that made them think. But they see these parades and might think that most gays just want to walk around nearly naked and grind on each other. It's just like how some people think all black people are either athletes, criminals, are rappers...because that's the only time they see black people on television.

Side note: As I type this, I just looked out my window and a man walked by with pants exposing his entire ass. I find that inappropriate for public.


I know that I can't fully understand what it's like to not have basic rights since I am a heterosexual white male. But I would think that if I were a professional gay man, I would not want people to think that homosexuality is represented by this parade.

Thoughts?
 

Seems like a fair question to me.  What does the bgtl community think of it?

La Lioness Priyanka  (1000+ posts)        Sat Jun-11-11 10:12 AM
Response to Reply #14

21. do you know someone who actually changed their mind about gay rights
 after seeing a parade?


or is it just the excuse they use?

MineralMan  (1000+ posts)        Sat Jun-11-11 09:49 AM
Response to Original message

2. Pride parades don't really seem to have any impact on people's
 
feelings, except maybe those of the participants in them. Homophobes already hate LGBT people, and non-homophobes don't. I doubt that a pride parade has any effect on that at all.

Yeah, none of the stuff that goes on at these 'parades' could hurt the cause.  No way.

originalpckelly  (1000+ posts)        Sat Jun-11-11 09:51 AM
Response to Original message

3. Even if they were wearing business suits and just holding hands...
 
Edited on Sat Jun-11-11 09:54 AM by originalpckelly

it would probably be a problem for that older couple.

Honestly, have you never seen another dude's ass? It's not the end of the world, really.

There are all kinds of people in these parades. Not all of them are nearly naked. Which, quite frankly, is a shame.

Even you straight guys might like some of what you might see. Last year here in Denver I saw these two chicks with nothing but pasties on, but then when they got close I could see the pasties were really just paint.

There are times when I hate being only gay, that was one of those times. 

Why yes, yes I have seen another mans ass.  It was in a locker room.  I don't want to see it walking down my street.

No I would NOT like 'some of what I might see'.  Public streets are not the place for those kinds of things.  I pay taxes too.

msongs  (1000+ posts)      Sat Jun-11-11 10:01 AM
Response to Original message

8. Are easter paraders extremist nuts? Is the rose parade inappropriate excess? Semi nude men
 
make that woman uncomfortable when the men are heteros? hmmm

 

Warrior Dash (33 posts)      Sat Jun-11-11 10:07 AM
Response to Original message

9. No impact and not necessary...
 
Being gay or straight is just a state of being. What is the difference? What is there to celebrate?

 
 
yardwork  (1000+ posts)      Sat Jun-11-11 10:11 AM
Response to Reply #9

20. The difference is that gay people have thousands fewer rights than straight people.
 
But I think that you already know that.
 
 
Warrior Dash (33 posts)      Sat Jun-11-11 10:22 AM
Original message

You seem to be suggesting that being gay is something that is extraordinary or
 
strange.

I view it as an element of nature--a normal occurrence. It just is. What's the big deal?  
 

yardwork  (1000+ posts)      Sat Jun-11-11 10:24 AM
Response to Original message
40. Shove it.

 

That exchange won't be up long so I thought I would bring it here.

Snoutport  (1000+ posts)        Sat Jun-11-11 10:21 AM
Response to Reply #9

34. When you are 18 and coming off the farm there is nothing more important than a gay pride parade 
 
Even if it scares the hell out of you. Just to see so many gay people of every type, holding hand, being themselves, walking in the sunshine.

Some participants see it as Carnival and go for the racy clothes and the exposed skin and that does offend some people. It would offend them if the person was straight with their straight butt hanging out.

But the parade is an event for those people...but for the 18 year old who has made the venture into the big city, they are a lifeline.

Really?  So you walked around with the pigs while wearing assless chaps and nothing else?  Then you got into the big city and found 'others' who were just like you?  Seriously?  Is this where you found your 'husband'? 

MineralMan  (1000+ posts)        Sat Jun-11-11 10:07 AM
Response to Original message

10. "I just looked out my window and a man walked by with pants exposing his entire ass"
 
Close your curtains if it bothers you. For pete's sake. Live your life and let others live theirs. It's a couple of hours.  

MM I think I'll come take a shit in your yard.  As a matter of fact I might line up a whole bunch of people to come take a shit in front of your house .... just close your blinds we'll only be there a couple of hours.

 

yardwork  (1000+ posts)      Sat Jun-11-11 10:08 AM
Response to Original message

12. Would this elderly couple say that they support equal rights for black people
 
if only those black athletes didn't behave the way they do? Would you applaud their comments equating the behavior of a handful of professional athletes with everybody in the country who is black? Every black person in the U.S. should be ashamed of the behavior of a few black athletes? The black community as a whole is somehow responsible? Should do something about it?

As a lesbian who dresses professionally for work every day and has never marched in a Gay Pride parade but enjoys attending every year - where I rarely or never see anybody naked - I'm deeply offended by the suggestion that ALL gay people are somehow responsible for and demeaned by the behavior of a handful of probably mythical men walking around in buttless chaps.

People march in parades wearing all kinds of clothes and for some reason the only group that ever has the entirety of its members equated with the expressions and behavior of a few are gay people.

Take the discrimination and shove it.

I've been to a bunch of parades and the only nekkid people I've ever seen in one was at a M/C rally where I PAID to get in.  There is no discrimination here yardwork.  Just people asking the gays to act as if they were in PUBLIC.  Get over yourself.

On and on it goes.  It's fairly new but I'm sure it will grow.

KC

[GOBUCKS]

I don't care what these freak parades do to gay rights, but I love the damage they do to the democrat party.
Lots of normal people, including those simpleminded "independents", get a good look at a key part of the democrat base.

[Mr Mannn]

Of course no one mentions the open sex acts in the parade.

The nudity involved reveals an important fact about gays: There is NO gay culture. Its always been about sex. The entire lifestyle has no unifying factor except sexual perversion. Its why you find suicide, insanity, and...liberalism so often associated with gay/lesbians. Apart from a moment of sex, they have nothing else/empty fraudulent lives.

[jukin]

They do hurt my eyes.

[BEG]

I every single time one of them post about anything to do with gays, they have to note that although they support gays, they in fact are heterosexual. They can't let other DUers think they are gay, kind of like how they always have to make up an excuse why they were in a Wal-mart when they tell their bouncy. Don't want their fellow DUmmies to think they shop there by choice.
    

[FreeBorn]

I get tired of hearing what "victims" the phags are. They're not victims, they're freaks and they know that. That's why they are constantly looking for support and recognition.

The whole phag thing is not a "rights" issue. no one has the "right" to shove their junk into the terminus of someone else's digestive tract, it's just wrong. No matter which end of the transaction they're on it is just wrong. Period.
Engaging in such deviance does not set one apart and thereby grant one special status under the Constitution or anything else.

It is NOT a "rights" issue, it is a MORALITY issue.

[MrsSmith]

Like the vast majority of conservative Christians, I believe that all people should have equal rights.  That includes the right to use public areas without having to see half-or fully-naked people simulating or engaging in sexual acts, especially the type of sexual acts that weren't even allowed in Hustler a couple decades ago.  That doesn't make me a homophobe or any other type of ____phobe...that makes me normal.  

It doesn't take a genius to look at the homosexual plea to be considered normal on one hand, and take a look at their actions in pride parades, in public schools, and in court rooms on the other hand, to see that they most definitely aren't asking for the same rights and considerations as everyone else.  They are demanding that every perversion they can dream up be granted not equal status with rights like religious freedom, but actually higher status than those rights.  Why else would they insist that it's just fine for actions like this to take place in public, but that any Christian group that shows up with literature, or that supports those that want to escape from the chains of sin, must, must, must be silenced and labeled as hateful homophobes.  

[BannedFromDU]

I every single time one of them post about anything to do with gays, they have to note that although they support gays, they in fact are heterosexual. They can't let other DUers think they are gay, kind of like how they always have to make up an excuse why they were in a Wal-mart when they tell their bouncy. Don't want their fellow DUmmies to think they shop there by choice.
    

     "Don't any of you faggots come on to ME, of course, but there is nothing I love more than to watch you guys mince down the street in boas and assless chaps."

[vesta111]

Like the vast majority of conservative Christians, I believe that all people should have equal rights.  That includes the right to use public areas without having to see half-or fully-naked people simulating or engaging in sexual acts, especially the type of sexual acts that weren't even allowed in Hustler a couple decades ago.  That doesn't make me a homophobe or any other type of ____phobe...that makes me normal.  

It doesn't take a genius to look at the homosexual plea to be considered normal on one hand, and take a look at their actions in pride parades, in public schools, and in court rooms on the other hand, to see that they most definitely aren't asking for the same rights and considerations as everyone else.  They are demanding that every perversion they can dream up be granted not equal status with rights like religious freedom, but actually higher status than those rights.  Why else would they insist that it's just fine for actions like this to take place in public, but that any Christian group that shows up with literature, or that supports those that want to escape from the chains of sin, must, must, must be silenced and labeled as hateful homophobes.  

HIMMMMMM, now that it is mentioned, where is the Prego pride Parade, hundreds of woman marching the streets with their bare belly's on display?????  Could paint the big belly's with skin paint and its a boy/girl in sparkles.

I wonder what kind of signs they could carry," Americas Future" ??????

If you think pregnant woman are not discriminated against, take another look. -----Try to get a job at 7 months pregnant, who will hire someone only to have them go out on family leave for 6 weeks????

What chance does a prego have getting a job if they are unmarried carrying their 5Th. baby. 

MrsSmith this whole thing about sex is becoming really weird, for us old timers.   Both grandmothers were teachers and had to quit their jobs when they began to "Show".   Both were Suffragettes and marched to be allowed to vote but at the same time  could not contaminate young minds of anything to do with where they had come from.

Too many questions for those of us that know only ourselves and cannot understand people that march for the right just to march on of all things their sex lives.



 

[Toastedturningtidelegs]

Sigh....I guess i gotta pull this link up again! http://zombietime.com/folsom_sf_2007_part_1/index.php Yep! "Just walkin down the street holdin hands!"

[Freeper]

I'm not what anyone would call a prude by any means, (I do believe in being faithful and stuff like that), however what consenting adults do with each other should be in private. It should not be out in the open where everyone can see what you are doing. I guarantee no normal person wants to see what any of us do with our spouses in our bedrooms. So why would we want to see gay people doing the things they do in a public setting. It's not homophobic, bigoted, it's just a sense of decency.

There is a reason public bathrooms are surrounded by walls, it's so no one has to watch other people doing a totally normal every day function that everyone has to do. That reason is called decency. On the other had when you take your dog for a walk the world is their toilet, that is because they are animals and we are more than just glorified animals we are human beings. It's no wonder that people who preach evolution as gospel truth think we must be just like the animals, the only difference is we walk upright, have thumbs, and can talk.

[Texacon]

Sigh....I guess i gotta pull this link up again! http://zombietime.com/folsom_sf_2007_part_1/index.php Yep! "Just walkin down the street holdin hands!"

I made the mistake of clicking on that one time.  That is one of the most perverted, disgusting things I think I've ever seen.

When I see stuff like that I wonder what Sodom must have been like.

KC

[Toastedturningtidelegs]

I made the mistake of clicking on that one time.  That is one of the most perverted, disgusting things I think I've ever seen.

When I see stuff like that I wonder what Sodom must have been like.

KC

Sorry man...Every time one of the dummies tries to make the case that what happens at Gay Pride is completely normal and natural i have to pull that up to bring them to reality. I realize The Folsom Street Fair isn't a Pride event but that's pretty close to what a Pride event looks like...and yes dummies i've seen a "Pride event" 

[mamacags]

Gay pride parades didn't bother me until I saw the zombietime thing and a couple of other photo accounts.  It is like they try their hardest to be the most disgusting offensive pieces of shit on earth at those things.

[Mr Mannn]

H5 mama. And they do this stuff wherever they gather...even at Gay days at Disney...in front of children.

[JohnGalt]

The only other parade that does this sort of thing that I can think of is Mardi Gras.

If the Gays could keep it in one city for one brief period of time each year I don't think I'd mind much.  The fact they try to do it everywhere bothers me though.  That's their street sure, but it's my street too, and that old couple that doesn't like seeing naked asses, and everyone else.

The rules of common decency mean that we don't go walking down the street dressed that way, gay or straight.

I think homosexuality is wrong, but I don't think we should legislate against it.  The government really ought to get out of that sort of thing entirely, no need to protect the rights of special minorities, and as far as marriage goes, it's a religious institution, the government should stop recognizing any sort of marriage.

[Mr Mannn]

and as far as marriage goes, it's a religious institution, the government should stop recognizing any sort of marriage.

I'm sorry but you are wrong. Marriage is not just a religious institution. It is the backbone of any society.
Govt has an inherent interest in the people who produce the next generation.

Govt not recognizing marriage? that's just ridiculous. Govt makes laws regulating marriage, its not for first cousins. and govt is RIGHT to do that. Govt takes genetic samples, requires blood tests, and taxes marriage.
Govt provide legal and secular marriage.

It is NOT in govt's interest to promote the farce of gay marriage. Gay adoption is just a recipe for child abuse/molestation.

The solution to this is to get liberals out of govt. Not remove govt recognition of marriage. 

[vesta111]

Sorry man...Every time one of the dummies tries to make the case that what happens at Gay Pride is completely normal and natural i have to pull that up to bring them to reality. I realize The Folsom Street Fair isn't a Pride event but that's pretty close to what a Pride event looks like...and yes dummies i've seen a "Pride event" 

Pride????? What is pride, be it in your ancestors, contry of origion or to celebrate national heros.??

How can one take pride in their self satisfying activity's, pride to be fat, pride in being homeless, pride in being bald, impotent or living long enough as ditch dirt.

Pride is in those that that over come obstacles, win wars or raise a child to become a Rocket Scientist.

Pride is overcoming great problems , serving your country in times of war, great upheaval and the pride extends to to the decedents of those that do.  

Pride is NOT in any way related to those that have a sexual preference.    What the hell do they have to be proud of ???

Am I proud that I had sex and created 4 humans, not really but I am proud of the results.    Am I proud that I am a heterosexual, went forth and multiplied the earth, no, this was just human nature.

This Gay Pride is an assult on human beings and encouraged by the people that want to take down the Earths population.  

WTF is the pride in a sexual aberration, now do we have to put up with people that have ANY kind of aberration,?

[true_blood]

Gay pride parades didn't bother me until I saw the zombietime thing and a couple of other photo accounts.  It is like they try their hardest to be the most disgusting offensive pieces of shit on earth at those things.

Well played mamcags. H5!
That's because they know they can get away with it. If anyone says anything to them/gets offended by them, they use the "gay card". It's sickening. They are pieces of shit for doing that.

[jukin]

The cost of the diseases that the gay community forces on the rest of society should make our liberal elites make regulations to stop it because we all have to pay for it. I like riding my motorcycle without a helmet but can't because of other people maybe having to pay for my health care if i have an accident and my insurance runs out.

F*CK that.

[GOBUCKS]

The cost of the diseases that the gay community forces on the rest of society should make our liberal elites make regulations to stop it

The problem there is that most of the liberal elite are either homosexuals, or dependent on homosexual votes.

[ChuckJ]

yardwork  (1000+ posts)      Sat Jun-11-11 10:11 AM
Response to Reply #9

20. The difference is that gay people have thousands fewer rights than straight people.
 
But I think that you already know that.

Thousands fewer rights? Name them. Wait, a thousand is a lot to have to type so just name ten.

[compaqxp]

I'd just like to stop hearing about gay people and their rights considering there are far more important things going on. If letting them marry makes them shut up about who they have sex with and why, so be it. However, I just know that even should they be allowed to marry we'll still hear of some grave injustice being dealt.

Really I'm just tired of it. The have it good in most of the Western world, so lets worry about the important stuff first, right?

[formerlurker]

IndyPragmatist (199 posts)      Sat Jun-11-11 09:44 AM
Original message

Do gay pride parades hurt gay rights? ...

Whose mole is this?

[Ballygrl]

To those lurking, go to a website called Zombietime and look for gay pride parades and tell me why they're allowed to get away with obscenity?