As long as they wished everyone a “Merry Christmas” all is right in the world.
So basically, gays try to get married and are hit with “nuh-uh, not for you! You must be different!”
Then gays goof off and do something different it’s, “you’ll never get rights that way! Be more like us!”
Screw it. Gays are fucked. Might as well have fun while you’re getting fucked.
The British TV shows I’ve watched make a lot of fun of religion, in ways that I don’t think you could get away with in the US, without causing a firestorm of controversy. I always had the impression that the Dutch were equally laid back about this sort of thing, but maybe I’m wrong. Do the Dutch not make fun of religion?
It’s Amsterdam. Do they need to care about looking good to Christians?
Maybe insulting other people’s beliefs and cultures isn’t the best way to win people over? I’m also neither Christian nor homophobic, but I can tell you that this kind of stuff is doing gay people no favors.
There’s nothing about being “too Jewish” that would require one to ridicule other people’s religion. If being gay means mocking other’s beliefs and traditions don’t be surprised when people don’t like it. You may be born gay, but you aren’t born an asshole. Either you want to integrate with the status quo or you want to be respected as your own culture. Being an asshole doesn’t help either of those things.
I think that there shouldn’t be any restriction on gay rights in this country and look forward to the day when that is the case, but I also don’t think that this kind of shit is a good idea either. I been on the other end of gay folks’ ridicule for various reasons, and it isn’t particularly it’s just assholish. If being gay means being a disrespectful asshole then I have a problem with gays. Luckily it doesn’t, and I know plenty of gay people who simply want to lead normal lives.
Exactly. The Jewish community wouldn’t exactly have gotten far by constantly yelling to everyone about how much of a liar (or crazy, or exaggerated, or non-existent figure) Christ was, even if they wouldn’t have a problem with it in a perfect world.
Valete,
Vox Imperatoris
It is. Thank you and happy holidays.
Hear, hear!
Does everything a gay person does need to be weighed in terms of wether it makes people more or less sympathetic towards gay rights?
Again, this didn’t happen in this country. It happened in Holland, and it should probably be judged by the standards of that country. To what extent was this pageant preceived as insulting or demeaning by the Dutch? So far, there’s only one agency making any noise over this, and we have no indication if they’re mainstream Christian advocates, or a fringe group of nutters.
For that matter, it’s worth pointing out that having Mary be a drag queen is not necessarily insulting. Within the gay community, drag is considered a form of respect. You don’t have drag queens dressing up like Cher because they hate her, for example. There is a good chance that this was done as a deliberate “fuck you” to Christians, of course, but it could just as easily have been meant as good natured irreverence, or even an act of devotion in and of itself. I’d be interested to learn the religious leanings of the participants - if the people involved are, themselves, Christians, can this performance genuinely be called insulting to the Christian faith?
yeah, well liking Cher isn’t exactly helping things either! 
You want to win, ignore them. No reaction they will go away. They will jingle your prayer beads if you let them. Don’t let them.
I admit, if ever there’s been a valid reason for legal discrimination against a minority, “Believe” is that reason.
Well, in a way it’s not “other people’s beliefs and cultures.” Gays are raised in the same religions and cultures as everyone else, and they kinda do have the right to make fun of their own religion and culture, if they want. Believe it or not, gays don’t come from other planets.
We all want to lead normal lives, but you don’t get to define “normal” for us. Not if “normal” means lacking a sense of humor.
No, you don’t have any more right to make fun of your “own” culture than any other.
ETA: In a serious way, not in jest, obviously.
Being rude, crude and frankly offensive is not part of who you qua gay are.
If you are fighting for the right to be rude, crude and offensive, you are not fighting for the right to be gay.
-FrL-
But why is it that everything gay people do or that a gay person does reflects upon them? If a bunch of straight people made fun of Christianity, would we be bemoaning heterosexual culture?
Oh please, get a sense of humor already. Nobody takes the shit we do seriously, especially in a place like Amsterdam, where they’ve seen it all before and laughed along with it. And maybe some straight people need to loosen up a little and have some fun.
It would depend on whether they were united in a cause as heterosexuals, not just as people who don’t like Christianity.
So what? It doesn’t mean plenty of other people aren’t put off.
It’s long been my belief that the outrageous, in-your-face gay-rights parades in San Francisco circo 1980 did more to set back the issue of gay rights than any other thing (and coincidentally was responsible for much of the hatred gays suffered once AIDS reared its ugly head). They also created the impression of a specific type of a certain type of “gay lifestyle” that is continuing to cost gays voter support today that they would very much like to have shen it comes to issues such as gay marriage, etc.
You don’t win friends, supporters and advocates among the oppostition by deliberately pissing people off. Look at how civil rights advocates acted in the sixties. They were well-dressed, polite, non-violent and ultimately symathetic. People came to realize that blacks were no different than anyone else, and began to change their perception accordingly. Many times around here I’ve seen it wished that people would just view gays as normal people who are just like everyone else, and behaving in deliberately outrageous and offensive ways is not the way to achieve that realization.
Personally, I think it’s just a rebellious, feel-good gesture on the part of gays in order to publicly rub their opponent’s faces in images and behavior they find disgusting, and it’s stupid beyond measure.
The best way to achieve gay rights is to illustrate the basic humanity that they and we all share, and that aside from this one issue gays are no different than anyone else.
With all due respect, that’s bullshit. Gays behaving is just another way to make us and our issues go away. Yeah, we know what the closet is. Works great if you’re into ignoring us.
No more closets, thanks.