What? Gay Pride 2003 Where? Anywhere America

[duke37]

I suppose the idea of the merit and relevance of gay pride events would draw quite a bit of varied response here. For some I would guess its irrelevant or even old hat. For others it might even be a symbol of what you don't like about being gay in America.

 

So my question to you all is what did Gay Pride mean to you this year? It has certainly been a banner year for events in the news. Did that make this year different or more special? If you don't like Pride events or parades why is that?

 

Frankly I'm curious if my reaction this year is typical of a first time participant or am I just being particularly sentimental.

 

While I have been out for a year and a half know this summer is my first time as a Gay Pride participant. I went to my small town's event at a community water park. It was fun but I never felt comfortable there and I think I kind of gave off that uncomfortable vibe as I wasn't able to make much in the way of conversation with anyone. But I went said hello to as many people as possible. Bought the raffle tickets and other pride ephemera. Met a customer who comes into my store who asked me not to mention I had seen him there to anyone else we knew. "Of course", I answered. But it made me kind of sad for him. How many closets do we have to come out of?

 

The same weekend I had an argument with my brother. It turns out it would be fine to come up and visit and he doesn't have a problem with my "sinful" lifestyle but I should lie and not mention it even if asked by his new wife and her family. Of course I said "No. I can't do that anymore".

 

So not feeling very good about being gay right now I travel to Columbus on business that happens to fall on the same weekend as the Gay Pride events there.

 

I guess what they say about travel is true. What a difference a change of scenery makes. I resolved to myself that I was going to give myself permission to be who and what I am. Not to blink or back down.

 

No surprise Columbus was great. My Pride weekend included: checking out the variety of nightlife in Columbus, shopping in the gay area of town, going to the parade Sat. across from the state capitol, not being freaked out by shreiking religious bigots with bullhorns,enjoying the great weather, hugging a leather daddy in the parade, trying to get a hunky cop to strip at the parade, groping the asses of some of the 60000 hot guys that were at the festival, (Most ground back), having a great talk with a shy girl from a town even smaller than my own,prayed with a MCC group,checked out all the booths at the festival,saw and drooled over hot ur-gay icons the Carlson twins, bought overpriced pride stuff for a good cause, celebrated the Supreme Court decision in a friendly bar, did my first big club party, tipped many hunky strippers, had a hunky stripper fool around for the princely sum of a couple of drinks, hired a couple of Columbus' working lads, went to a club with hunky stripper, went to Columbus Stonewall center and met great people who invited me to go out with them,had a guy offer to go to the Captured party being led around on a leash, turned down sex in a bar, danced with a drag queen, and generally meeting one great friendly person after another.

 

Thanks to the friendly people of Columbus I'm feeling, for the first time, well normal about being out and being a sexual person. Not just not ashamed but for a time I just felt ordinary and enjoyed myself among the throngs of great people.

 

I'm sure I sound terribly naive and I'm just asking for trouble from some of the guys here but I just gotta think anything that encourages people to hold their heads up and meet new people has to be a good thing. Even with the goofy stereotypes and the crass commercialism.

 

So what do you think?

 

Jeff

[Guest fukamarine]

>So what do you think?

 

Good on you, Jeff!

 

It sounds like you're well on your way to being a typical well adjusted gay man. And - at the risk of starting a rift on your family, I'd tell your brother and his precious new wife's family to stick it where the sun don't shine. Sinfull lifestyle indeed!!!!!!!!

 

Congratulations!

 

fukamarine

[Guest jeffOH]

I suppose I've been out for so long that I'd started to take certain aspects of life for granted. It was not only refreshing to hear your take on the Pride Weekend, but also that of a 20 year-old who was attending his first Pride Parade.

 

Yes, it's gotten much more commercial with all the corporate sponsorship, but I guess that's a good thing also. Stereotypes?? yeah, they were everywhere, but I noticed many "average" gay men and women. I suppose that showing the typical gay man or woman isn't good TV.

 

I do wish the Columbus Dispatch would cover the event more. An uninformative smallish story with 1 pic on page 4 of the Metro section just isn't enough.

 

Once again Jeff, glad to hear you had such a good time. I hope you'll be back.

 

JEFF

[email protected]

[+ Charlie]

It sounds like the event in Columbus was an uplifting experience for you, and that's great--that's what such events are supposed to be. For someone like me, who was active in the gay rights movement several years before Stonewall, the whole thing lost the power to move me a number of years ago, and I rarely participate in gay pride celebrations any more, just as I hardly ever celebrate any traditional holidays. But I would be upset if they stopped taking place, because I think they serve an important psychological purpose for many gays like yourself, as well as an educative purpose for straights (if only to remind them that we exist and are not going away).

[FrancoDiSantisxxx]

Been There Done That

 

I do not believe I was ever "IN" a closet. I would walk half a mile as a teenager in the small town where my parents decided to settle in America (as it most closely resembled my father's rural village in Southern Spain) and purchase the then current issue of Playgirl at a small convenience store, where I had to request the issue from behind the counter where the tabacco products and hard liquor were kept.

 

I volunteered to work at my first gay pride event before I even had sex, so I have helped organize, built floats for, marched in, watched and otherwise participated in my share of parades all over the country. Last year, I did a tour of gay pride events, here in Los Angeles, Palm Springs, San Diego and San Francisco, missing only Long Beach and a few of the smaller events. This year, I have thus far missed them all, although I may make an exception for Palm Springs in November.

 

I definitely miss the sense of community that no longer happens in large urban environments and it does sound like Columbus was large enough to provide both sufficient mass but not so large that people were not friendly and outgoing. I also think that there is something about Pride which generally makes people, even the most stuck up circuit boys and the most jaded and bitter old queens, befriend and make nice to one another.

 

I fully agree, I think such events are important and even someone who thinks they have seen it all and done it all will find something new to appreciate and enjoy.

 

 

 

Proud for Lucky today and every other day.

 

http://www.gaydar.co.uk/francodisantis

[buckguy]

Glad you liked Columbus. I am an Ohio native (Cleveland) and I always thought it was a big bland nothing of a place---an Atlanta wannabe (& I live in Atlanta, but don't wannabe).

 

I volunteered in Atlanta on Saturday during the Pride festivities and then went to Chicago on business and saw the aftermath of their Pride on Sunday. The Chicago guys are defintely head & tails better looking than their Atlanta counterparts; more diverse physically and ethnically and less dependent on mousse and peroxide. Plus, Chicago is a real city and Atlanta is Atlanta.

[Rick Munroe]

>I'm sure I sound terribly naive and I'm just asking for

>trouble from some of the guys here but I just gotta think

>anything that encourages people to hold their heads up and

>meet new people has to be a good thing.

 

You're right, Jeff (not the part about sounding naive, though). Your post, the Supreme Court decision, Howard Dean's campaign...it's all making me feel really happy and hopeful about the future of my people. ;-)