therapy in the making

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Jul

gay pride

Filed under being a boy, blogathon '07, thinking.

Next week is Brighton’s famous Pride weekend. What this means is a weekend filled with gay themed parties and a big parade through the city. This year’s theme is “The Musicals”.

Why is there a theme? I don’t know. Has the Pride Parade always had a theme? I don’t know that either. What I would like to start a conversation on is, do we still need a gay pride parade? Is this really meaningful any more?

In my opinion it certainly is, on some level and to a certain extend, but the whole carnival planned and organised around it seems to diminish its importance in my eyes. What Pride seems to have become in my, and I am sure a lot of other people’s, eyes is a big street party. It should be a celebration. It should be a celebration of the global community’s accepting, embracing and tolerating homosexual people. It should be a celebration of gay men and women being open about who they are and not hiding in fear of discrimination and/or possible violence.

Instead what I see and the general feeling I sense is that this is perceived as a chance to party with little else meaning. Members of the heterosexual community see this as a gay-watching activity and they come along for the party or to “see the gays” without being aware of what such an event was meant to be about.

Should I be happy that every year thousands of gay men and women dress up and humiliate themselves for the sake of a party?

Should I find acceptable that a parade should have a theme that raises no awareness and instead can be seen as an opportunity to degrade the meaning of the event itself?

Am I crazy or should parades be awareness first and fun after?

Can I really see myself being respected by a future employer or someone who is not tolerant of homosexuals by dancing on a float dressed like Liza Minnelli or in a sailor’s uniform?

Will this change anyone’s mind of what homosexuals really are or will it just promote the stereotypes?

Should I be satisfied that this event has been degraded to just show that there are a lot of us?

I feel this isn’t enough. Can anyone out there correct me and make me see the Pride Parade as something more than a party? Please tell me I’m not right.

Written by Colin Brooks on 29.07.07 at 11:39 am.

14 Responses to “gay pride”

Che said:

Good post! I’m not sure how you can write something so coherent at this hour. I wish I could construct a coherent reply, but I’m having trouble just rambling about my cats.

Thanks for dropping by the blog - I’ll definitely look in on you when I’m awake.
Commented on July 29th, 2007 at 12:13 pm
bSpies » A request from one of my peeps said:

[...] Here’s the link: http://www.therapyinthemaking.co.uk/index.php/2007/07/29/gay-pride/ [...]
Commented on July 29th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
Colin Brooks said:

Yes, I surprised myself also! Now what the hell am I going to write about next?

Commented on July 29th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
Hugh said:

It has become something of just a party, there is a lot more tolerance and visibility of the community.

here in Brighton anyway, there is a large gay community, there is a lot of exposure to alternative lifestyles - but this acceptance isn’t universal in the UK. there has been different “themes” over the years if you look, there used to be big emphasis on sexual health with everywhere you looked someone handing out condoms. AIDS - i remember the first time it was in Preston Park, there were the AIDS memorial blankets. Maybe its just evolving in a differnt way nowadays

if you look at the history of Gay Pride here in the UK, it started off with only a handful of people in London, and slowly built up - people used to come from all over the UK to the London Pride, but gradually there were more local prides taking place.

Infact i remember pride in Brighton being in Queens Park (ironically) and then movedto the Level ( it only took up 1 half of the park - can you imagine that, when now the city is brought to a halt and Preston Park is packed to the gunnels

i hope this isn’t to rambling
Commented on July 29th, 2007 at 12:20 pm
Bas said:

Hey Colin!

Like Che said.. Brilliant post at this time!! Hang in there!
As for your issue.. Difficult. It’s always difficult to have to draw attention to anything. With a chance it can back-fire.
But if everybody would refrain from doing what they believe in… why bother with anything in the first place?

Best regards,
Bas.
Commented on July 29th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
Colin Brooks said:

no it’s not rambling, it’s very good.

Yes, but do you think it’s evolving in the right direction?

Commented on July 29th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Hugh said:

well i’m a bit biased, wild horses would not drag me to Pride nowadays - in fact i’d rather eat ground glass.

direction, well i guess it has to have a purpose to have direction - there is now civil partnerships/ anti - discrimination laws blah blah so a lot of the things that started off these “protest” marches have been achieved

so is its purpose nowadays to raise awareness - certainly Brighton has gotten in right, in that its still free, has limited sponsorship - which i think is where London went wrong.

maybe it needs to change its name - the Brighon Mardi Arse
but then again London did that and it all went pete tong
Commented on July 29th, 2007 at 12:39 pm
Adrian said:

OMGz! I LOVE musicals! I know what you mean about the loss of meaning in gay pride. The Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras has turned from an angry protest to a huge slutty party that’s supposed to represent gay life. If it really was representitive of gay life there would be a ‘quiet office worker’ float, a ‘bitchy hospitality queen’ float, a ‘lesbian sports float’…

Ohh well, any excuse for a party!
Commented on July 29th, 2007 at 12:41 pm
Hugh said:

thats was i was looking to say - “represention of gay life” - this is what the general public think being gay is all about - remember not everybody is exposed to anybody other than their own straight life style.

i remember being asked if being gay meant i dressed up in womens clothing - the sad part was they were genuinely serious about the question

right, this is now my last comment for the blogathon, otherwise i’ll still be typing in an hour or so

well done to everybody involved in this blogathon
Commented on July 29th, 2007 at 12:47 pm
Colin Brooks said:

Bas :: thanks for your lovely comment,. I see your point and I can’t disagree. What I see now is that people can’t see the Pride Parade for what it could be.

Hugh :: Yes that makes total sense. I don’t think pride does this the right way. While achieving exposure it lacks something. Hugh, again, thank you for your support!

Adrian :: Yeah, that’s exactly what I think the pride parade is turning into here as well.

Commented on July 29th, 2007 at 1:16 pm
therapy in the making» Blog Archive » Blogathon ‘07 :: the highlights said:

[...] gay pride :: Colin [...]
Commented on July 29th, 2007 at 3:15 pm
shmeeli said:

well gay pride is amazing been like every year brighton
me being gay myself its easy to meeet more gay people
because alot of gays wont like admit to it and stuff you know what i mean like
anywayyy
gay pride is better when it has themes because its just better that way
Commented on July 31st, 2007 at 9:36 pm
Colin Brooks said:

Wow, insight! Thanks for clarifying.

Commented on July 31st, 2007 at 9:56 pm
cynthia said:

very interesting….thanks folks.
I think Pride now is a celebration of our “naughty bits.” And why not? We’ve all got em! And they bring us such pleasure and comfort and fun and joy. Lots of straight people appreciate this acknowldgement. Modern Brighton after all was founded on the fun of the naughty bits (thanks to the Prince Regent!); quite right that we are still in the forefront of rhe celebration!
Commented on July 31st, 2008 at 8:10 pm