The Gay Thread

[Irvine511]

it's understandable that a minority is going to have to explain themselves over and over to the majority, i get that's how it works. i don't envy, say, trans people having to explain their experiences.

but, still, one would wish others could see gay people as actual human beings. no gay person should have to "earn" their rights and "prove" themselves. but i suppose that's what it takes. and given the speed of this movement, it's not a hard thing to do.

[deep]

'people' need help with their wrong perceptions

the typical same sex person is just as boring as the typical opposite sex person

people need to demonize 'the other' to treat them as 'less than'.

[DaveC]

World Pride is being held in Toronto this week and I've been pleasantly surprised at the total lack of opposition to it. It seems that people either want to participate, they simply don't care, and the small number of people actively opposed to these things have generally kept quiet about it other than to complain about street closures downtown.

Of course the province also elected the country's first openly gay premier last week and not once was that even mentioned on the campaign.

I take these things as great signs. Equality for everyone


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[Irvine511]

Pride is so family friendly. Like, there are lots of families.

Sure, you have some floats with men in thongs, but women in bikinis have been selling diet coke since 1981 so I'm not sure what's offensive other than the sight of men presenting themselves as sexualized as women usually are.


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[LuckyNumber7]

Most of pride isn't a bunch of men in things. It's usually companies floats and political establishments. Universal churches. It's a display of acceptance, sexually, religiously, socially, politically.

Definitely family friendly.

I'm going to St. Pete pride on Saturday.

[DaveC]

Originally Posted by Irvine511

Pride is so family friendly. Like, there are lots of families.

Sure, you have some floats with men in thongs, but women in bikinis have been selling diet coke since 1981 so I'm not sure what's offensive other than the sight of men presenting themselves as sexualized as women usually are.

The only real issue I've heard around Pride this time around is that the Catholic School Board teacher's union (!) has decided to enter a float in the parade in support of LGBTQ students and the parents were upset about that. There was another news story about people upset about "nudity" in the parade and "what if children happen to be walking by?" but that was brushed aside by anyone with half a brain that it won't destroy the children's psyches to see a half naked man walking down the street. Especially when you consider that Hooters is right on the parade route and half-naked women stand around outside trying to get people in there all day and nobody has an issue with that. Same (with men) thing at the Abercrombie location on Yonge in the Eaton Centre as well.

I don't think I'll be able to make it out to see the parade this time around although I probably will watch on TV (parades are brutal in person anyways IMO). Lots of good free concerts going on around town this weekend though, between Pride and the NXNE festival there's a lot of music to see, so I might head out and check out the Pride concert on Saturday

[martha]

The only reason I never go to the Long Beach Pride events is the fear of traffic and parking. Whatta wuss. I know.

[bono_212]

Originally Posted by martha

The only reason I never go to the Long Beach Pride events is the fear of traffic and parking. Whatta wuss. I know.

I was definitely told by people my own age (who are LGBT) NOT to bring kids to Long Beach Pride when I went with a group last month. Maybe that one's a little crazier, since it's more of a block party than anything else...

[Galeongirl]

Originally Posted by deep

'people' need help with their wrong perceptions

the typical same sex person is just as boring as the typical opposite sex person

people need to demonize 'the other' to treat them as 'less than'.

That's pretty much it. It's funny to see how many US politicians have now turned around when people in their personal group, family members or friends, have come out as gay. Suddenly it's not 'them evil gross sinning gays', but it's your own kid. A human being you yourself put on this planet and raised as a perfectly fine species. And they're gay. Well shite. That changes perspective.

A friend of mine has that issue too, yea even in the Netherlands we still have it. But he hasn't come out yet so he's very insecure. But he's slowly coming out at uni here to his friends, he just doesn't want home to know. His parents and family live in a very religious small village, so he just doesn't know how to bring it. But I guess he'll find that they'll most likely accept him the way he is. It just needs time.

[jeevey]

Originally Posted by bono_212

I was definitely told by people my own age (who are LGBT) NOT to bring kids to Long Beach Pride when I went with a group last month. Maybe that one's a little crazier, since it's more of a block party than anything else...

Well, some people are more nervous about public displays of sexuality in front of children. I remember people talking about pride events where there were men in thongs kissing as if they were roasting children up on that flatbed. I feel like if people are not actually having sex on the parade float it's probably okay, but some people think that's really inappropriate for kids.

[Galeongirl]

ermagherd, people think of the kids! It's totally inappropriate to see scantily clad men and women there! As they will totally not see them elsewhere, on the beach or on tv or on the internet. Cause teenage boys are absolutely never gonna look up naked women on the internet. We must shield them from seeing the real stuff!*






*But violence is like, totally okay. Cool, all cool. No swearing though!

[digitize]

Originally Posted by jeevey

Well, some people are more nervous about public displays of sexuality in front of children. I remember people talking about pride events where there were men in thongs kissing as if they were roasting children up on that flatbed. I feel like if people are not actually having sex on the parade float it's probably okay, but some people think that's really inappropriate for kids.

If I had young kids, I'm not sure I'd want to take them to an event with lots of people (of either gender) in thongs. Teenagers are another story.


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[martha]

Why are you "tolerant" folks giving her a hard time? Some people think children don't need to be around half-naked people. I'm one of them. And I don't think violence or excessive swearing is good for kids, either. Plus, she didn't offer that as her opinion, just something that was passed on as advice. People like to complain about over-sexualized children, but only when it's a certain kind of sexualization? C'mon.

[bono_212]

I would explain more the context of what was happening, but it's related to something I was doing for work, so I can't. I was just sharing my surprise at the conversation here, as compared to the conversation that several (maybe 5-7 people?) LGBT people I work with were having when the topic came up. And again, this might be just Long Beach Pride, not the parade itself, or the other activites. I don't think I'd take kids to Lollapalooza either, or at least not to Perry's....:shudder: Finger-banging :/shudder:

[Galeongirl]

I don't know if it was directed at me, but who am I giving a hard time? I wasn't directing my post at anyone, or I would've quoted.. I find it just very, very weird that parents keep trying to protect kids from what they already can see on TV or their computer at any random time. Sure, for young children it may not be the best idea to go to for a family day, but older children I don't see the issue with. With teenagers I would probably encourage it, since it provides with a great example to talk to your kids about sexuality and that it's okay to be whoever you are.

[bono_212]

I didn't really think you were, either. We're all good.

[martha]

Originally Posted by Galeongirl

I don't know if it was directed at me, but who am I giving a hard time? I wasn't directing my post at anyone, .

Maybe your post was just incredibly coincidental.

[Galeongirl]

Are you trying to insinuate something that isn't there? Jeevey wasn't even posting her own opinion as far as I'm aware so how could I have reacted to that?

[DaveC]

So I've decided since Lindsay is leaving to go visit her family back home for the weekend I'm going to venture downtown on Saturday and check out the Pride festivities at City Hall. It's probably going to be a circus for a different reason (Monday is when Rob Ford comes back from rehab) afterwards so I might as well enjoy it while I can. I'll let you guys know what's going on.

[DaveC]

So I didn't end up actually going after all, once I saw how insane the crowd was already at 11 am (a full two hours before the parade started, and this was showing a spot near the end of the route) on TV and wussed out decided to avoid the craziness. I stayed in and watched it on TV, it looked like a lot of fun. I did go downtown the next day and saw the setup for the Tegan and Sara concert, it was pretty big for the space it's in.

Holy crapola though, I've never seen a crowd like that on Yonge Street (for anything other than the G-20 protests, that is) before.