My thoughts on gay pride

I was moved by a blog by an incredible conservative gay man (here's his blog link http://realitymuggedme.blogspot.com/2007/06/my-gay-pride.html ) and decided to write my own thoughts on gay pride.

I agree with everything this guy had to say as I have thought those very same thoughts. What does it mean to have gay pride? How can I be proud of something I had no control over. I'm proud of my academic accomplishments to date. I've won awards in debate, science and a letter in track. All of those things took hard work and I AM proud of those accomplishments. But I AM gay, it is nothing that I achieved. I didn't set out to be attracted to males. I never understood being proud of ones heritage either. It's not like I had a choice that my mom was of polish decent and my Dad a product of Israel and Italy. I mean other than the fact that I tan easily and don't have a lot of body hair, that's kind of nice, especially at the beach in the summer. :)

The other thing that bothers me that the above blogger didn't mention is the confusing messages that the actions he describes are causing those that are looking at the gay community. Let me explain. On one hand, the gay community is trying for acceptance by the heterosexual world. They want to have legal parity in marriage/civil unions. They want to have equal rights in the work place and to not be discriminated against. They try to show that being gay is no different than being straight except in the bedroom. But as soon as the gay community gets a voice or their 15 minutes, a.k.a. the pride parades, what happens? They showcase the very stereotypical activity that they say they want to downplay. People who normally wear normal clothing strip down to nothing but a thong. People who normally wear gender-accurate clothing suddenly cross dress. So instead of using their attention and their 15 minutes to show the world that they are like everyone else except for their attraction to the same sex, they reinforce the hetero-worlds opinion that they are nothing by leather clad, scantly clad, cross dressing freaks that want to downgrade the level of class and sophistication rather than uphold it.

In my opinion a proper pride parade would feature members of the gay community dressed as they are everyday. They would wear what they wear everyday when they go to work or school. THIS would show the hetero-community that they truly ARE like everyone else with the exception of their choice of partners. This might actually get the message across rather than just making it fodder for the extreme right wing activists.