Happy Gay Pride Day

[Frankly Rich]

It's Gay Pride Month, and Sunday is Gay Pride Day in at least New York and San Francisco. Parades will feature balloons, certain women on bikes, jock straps and nothing at all, with large contingents of gay Christians and other beliefs, along with politicians and newlyweds.

 

I have spent hours upon hours watching gay pride parades, and I am sure I can picture them all in my head. San Francisco's goes on for some 5 hours, or at least it did. I once took a nap and came back to the parade and it was far from over. Nowadays big street parties are held afterward.

 

So Happy Pride Day to all the LBGTQ and gay message board communities!

 

http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k45/patriciaescudero28/pride-day.jpg

[Kevin Slater]

 

Kevin Slater

[tyro]

OMFG. What an awesome pic. Thank you for posting, Kevin.

T

[Frankly Rich]

It is an awesome pic. I have it on my desktop background.

[+ quoththeraven]

Thirding the response to the rainbow-lit Empire State Building.

 

The 45th anniversary of Stonewall was yesterday and the NY and SF parades are timed to roughly (or in this case, not so roughly) coincide with it. In that spirit, here's a TIME Magazine piece advocating the inclusion of Stonewall and other LBGTQ rights history in public school curricula:

 

http://time.com/2935029/stonewall-riots-lgbt-school-curricula/

[Steven_Draker]

It is Gay Pride weekend in Paris too.

 

http://media-cache-ec0.pinimg.com/736x/e8/69/0f/e8690f662b6c8d9d6eca6ef6e784adac.jpg

 

Happy Gay Pride to everyone!

[bootdad]

And here is to the overlooked mention of World Pride Celebrations and a massive parade in Toronto - the first World Pride Celebration in North America - enjoy where ever you may be celebrating !!! Toronto has been host to World Pride this past week culminating in parade celebrations today !!!

[Mark Gordon]

Happy World Pride from Toronto!

Can you believe we actually had a massive rainbow appear over the city this evening?

 

http://i925.photobucket.com/albums/ad99/ardentquixote/Toronto_WorldPride2014_TheGayGuideNetworkcom_-420x3241.jpg

[MrMiniver]

I'm proud to be gay 365 days per year and don't need an arbitrary date on a calendar that tells me I should be proud on that day. I can't imagine anything sillier (well, Liza marrying another gay man but not much else).

[Steven_Draker]

don't need an arbitrary date on a calendar that tells me I should be proud on that day.

 

 

I don't think the date is "arbitrary". It is honoring the Stonewall riots on June 28th 1969.

 

http://timedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2014/06/97321331.jpg?w=1100

 

A crowd attempts to impede police arrests outside the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, New York City, on June 28, 1969

 

 

 

Gay-Pride Parades Across U.S. Mark 45 Years Since Stonewall

 

The riots helped start the modern LGBT movement

 

 

Gay-pride festivities across the country on Sunday are honoring the 45th anniversary of the Stonewall riots, the demonstrations that kickstarted the modern-day LGBT movement in 1969.

 

In 1969, a violent confrontation between raiding police and the patrons of the Stonewall Inn bar ignited a number of protests in New York City and helped galvanize the formation of some LGBT activist groups. And over four decades later, millions across the U.S. will join in pride events.

 

In New York City, where organizers are live-streaming the day’s events online, one of the city’s iconic landmarks, the Empire State Building, has turned on its rainbow lights to mark the weekend.

 

San Francisco Pride, which last year drew 1.8 million people to the weekend-long celebration, will celebrate its 44th year with an event honoring former military-intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, who came out as transgender last year, as an honorary grand marshal.

 

Chicago Pride, which also drew more than a million people last year, is taking place the same month Illinois’s marriage-equality law went into effect and allowed same-sex couples to officially marry, the Chicago Tribune reports.

 

This year’s pride events take place in what has been a banner year for transgender visibility in the media. Orange Is the New Black actress and TIME cover star Laverne Cox told a crowd at Logo’s Trailblazer Awards this week that it was important to acknowledge and remember the contributions of transgender people, like Sylvia Rivera, to early activism.

 

“Sylvia Rivera, a true trailblazer, was present at the Stonewall rebellion,” Cox said, according to People. “She, as a trans person, a street queen, a hustler, warned us about becoming a movement that was only for white, middle-class people. And 45 years later, the most marginalized of our communities are still struggling.”

 

The events also mark roughly a year since the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibited federal recognition of same-sex marriages. Seven states have since legalized marriage equality, and now a total of 19 states and Washington allow same-sex marriages. A federal appeals court ruled last week for the first time that states must allow gay people to marry.

 

Similar annual events celebrating the lives of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people took place internationally on Saturday in countries such as France, Spain, Mexico and Peru, the Associated Press reports.

 

 

source: http://time.com/2937684/gay-pride-2014-stonewall/

[Frankly Rich]

Gay Pride Day still serves a useful purpose, especially for younger people who have recently or are in the process of coming out. They get to join thousands of other gays and celebrate who they are in a wild and raucous manner. It's exuberant! Some of us older guys may not need that anymore, but it's good that it's there for those who need and/or want it. Doesn't everyone like a parade? Well, we know not everyone,but then, there are those who don't like much of anything, so we just ignore them and party on.

[bigvalboy]

I would add also, that it gives the idea of gay pride, exposure in the straight community as well. Some would argue that it also allows others to see the gay community in a negative light, and doesn't provide a balanced representation, but I think the good far out ways the bad. It is important for others to see the extent to which gay people are in the community. Hiding rarely helps....

[MrMiniver]

I would add also, that it gives the idea of gay pride, exposure in the straight community as well. Some would argue that it also allows others to see the gay community in a negative light, and doesn't provide a balanced representation, but I think the good far out ways the bad. It is important for others to see the extent to which gay people are in the community. Hiding rarely helps....

 

Seeing gays live their lives day in and day out just like everybody else does far more for the straight community than exposure to a bunch of hedonists getting together to be drunk and have sex one weekend per year on an arbitrary date (and I think it is arbitrary as Stonewall has about as much relevance in the lives of young gay people as does Judy -- that's what they tell me).

[bigvalboy]

Seeing gays live their lives day in and day out just like everybody else does far more for the straight community than exposure to a bunch of hedonists getting together to be drunk and have sex one weekend per year on an arbitrary date (and I think it is arbitrary as Stonewall has about as much relevance in the lives of young gay people as does Judy -- that's what they tell me).

 

First of all Mr. Miniver, it wasn't I who challenged you on your use of the word "arbitrary" ....not that it matters, but I got the impression from your post, that you felt I had taken issue with the word, since it was my post that you highlighted, when in fact I have not. Secondly, while I disagree with you on your feelings about gay pride and gay pride parades, many of my friends would stand with you. They for the most part, are disgusted by the ridiculous display of floats and cheap pageantry that goes on. (Those are their words, not mine). So they choose not to participate in the festivities, as I'm sure you don't either. Each to his own. It is certainly nothing worth arguing over. I have not changed their minds, and they have not changed mine. AND....I don't need a parade to have an excuse get drunk and have sex.... (OK that's a joke people)

[Frankly Rich]

For those not familiar with the rantings of Mr. Miniver, he doesn't like much of anything. Most of his posts are critical. See the Comedy & Tragedy forum for examples.

That said, he's a delightful character, and no doubt his tongue is planted firmly in his cheek. Otherwise, no one could dislike as much as Mr. Miniver and still enjoy life...or could they?

[MrMiniver]

First of all Mr. Miniver, it wasn't I who challenged you on your use of the word "arbitrary" ....not that it matters, but I got the impression from your post, that you felt I had taken issue with the word, since it was my post that you highlighted, when in fact I have not. Secondly, while I disagree with you on your feelings about gay pride and gay pride parades, many of my friends would stand with you. They for the most part, are disgusted by the ridiculous display of floats and cheap pageantry that goes on. (Those are their words, not mine). So they choose not to participate in the festivities, as I'm sure you don't either. Each to his own. It is certainly nothing worth arguing over. I have not changed their minds, and they have not changed mine. AND....I don't need a parade to have an excuse get drunk and have sex.... (OK that's a joke people)

 

Sorry if I gave that impression. I was responding to several posts at once and yours was the most recent so it all got lumped into one

[Steven_Draker]

"This is beyond a doubt one of the best videos to come out of Pride 2014.

 

At this year's Seattle Pride Parade, out and proud queers were met with a sudden onslaught of hate from a group of protestors bearing anti-gay signs and wielding a megaphone.

 

Local drag queen Mama Tits was not having it.

 

The community icon used her own microphone to school the protestors in the disconnect within their Bible-based, anti-gay logic, and inform them that they, in fact, were the ones spewing hate.

 

"Why don't you read your own book and actually follow the teachings to the letter of God and learn to support and love?" Mama Tits asked the group. "You need to drop the hate! You are a sad, sad excuse for a human being. Once you learn to drop the hate, you too can find happiness because we will welcome you in open arms when you learn to open your mind. Not today, Satan! Not today!" "

 

 

[video=youtube;OeHW-s3ajJw]

 

source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/02/drag-queen-anti-gay-protestors_n_5551309.html?utm_hp_ref=gay-voices

[Steven_Draker]

exposure to a bunch of hedonists getting together to be drunk and have sex one weekend per year on an arbitrary date

 

Gay Pride is so much more than just people getting drunk and having sex, Miss Miniver.

 

http://i.huffpost.com/gen/831944/thumbs/o-AMERICAS-GAY-RIGHTS-MOVEMENT-facebook.jpg

[+ WilliamM]

Gay Pride is so much more than just people getting drunk and having sex, Miss Miniver.

 

 

Just to make sure that we are all on the same page, his screen name is based on the 1942 hit U.S. film "Mrs. Miniver," which won six Academy Awards. It tells the story of how a middle-class, somewhat rural family (Greer Garson and Walter Pigeon et.al) deal with the constant, almost-nightly bombing by the Germans. Garson and Pigeon have a young daughter who is actually Miss Miniver. The film has an old-fashioned MGM touch, but is of great interest in showing how the Brits survived those awful months and years.

[+ purplekow]

It is a lot easier to accept the gay house husband with three Korean kids who lives down the block than it is to accept the flamboyant drag queen dressed as Dorothy. Gay Pride is not about easy. Gay Pride expresses the sentiment that society cannot just pick and choose those it will accept for equal treatment. The house husband, the drag queen, the closeted Mama's boy, the effeminate bear in a tutu, the Club kid dressed as an Anime, the transsexual Chaz Bono look-alike, ever last fucking one of them, ever last fucking one of us, gets to celebrate. We party while lobbying for equal treatment, if not acceptance.

 

Mr. Miniver, you can look down your aquiline nose, past the Penguin cigarette holder, and stare disdainfully at the people out there celebrating the commonality of their differences, but ultimately, they make your life better and easier. You should be thankful that they have the courage and fortitude to get out and show the world that they do not intend to hide any more.

For me, the button-downed and ever so proper Casper Milquetoast gay male gets to marry the man he loves and not the woman he feels he should, because of the hard work of all sorts of gay people and the audacity to demand respect exemplified by the rowdiest, raunchiest and most polarizing of the members of the gay community, who march proudly in June.

 

Miniver, We ARE here. We ARE queer. Get used to it. Revel in it. Celebrate it. I suggest taking that stick out of your ass and replacing it with something more exciting.

[Newly]

+1. Could not have said it better purplekow. Hating those who struggled for your rights is seriously self loathing.