Guilt by association.
So we just went through Gay Pride Weekend here in the Queen City. Today they're all floating down the river. Yesterday the ratio was 500 protesters praying for 10,000 alleged sinners. What continues to baffle me, maybe even anger me a little, is that when they ask one of the participants in the festival, the line they come up with to explain the day is that: "Gay people have a right to love whomever they want to."
And while that is true, it still hearkens a bit of "choice" into the equation for the observer.
The message has always been totally wrong IMHO. It shouldn't be Gay "pride" at all, for that is not really what we celebrate at events like this. It's more about being proud to be OUT -- to not be afraid to be who you already are. These are very different things. I'm not proud to choose my love. I'm proud to be who I am to friends and family and share my life with them openly.
I didn't choose to be gay any more than to have blue-green eyes. And yes I'm proud of those.
So what to categorize it as seems to be the question. We're never going to have any progress in the "movement" until we get away from "proud" in the message. It jumps the gun for the haters -- they can't get over how outlandishly freakish that is. Whereas if we simply said.... "you know what, I'm gay, I've always been gay, I only remember being gay and never made a vending machine choice one day" it may be a better route.
Not a nice parade theme I know. But the one refrain I've always liked at the events is "we're here, we're queer, so get used to it." That, at least, implies the tree that will not bend. It's just there, and down the river life goes, right around it if necessary.
No comments:
Post a Comment