To paraphrase Athena, I don’t mind if gays march in the Irish parade just as long as they don’t proclaim their gayness.
That is 100% pure offensiveness. It sounds like you are arguing that myself and all my brethren should go “straight” back into the closet. We are here, we are queer, and we are also human with human desires and needs. We have developed a disctinctly different subculture (I am not arguing that it is the best or worst, just that it is different) from the mainstream norm. This is frankly because we are different and have the need to be ourselves without being uptight by the straight entrapments. (I am not bashing straight people) Being gay, it is very difficult to go out in public with my boyfriend and to not think that we might be beaten in public for showing our emotions towards ourselves. For that matter, it is even difficult to find a boyfriend who is willing to hold hands, kiss, flirt, etc in public. I personally think that any of this type of behaviour is my right and I exercise it at almost all times. I should also say that there are circumstances where I know I will not be able to do anything like the prestated instances because it can result in bodily harm to myself and/or my significant other. Remember Matthew Shephard? He was the boy who was brutally murdered by two other boys because he was gay. They also had their two girlfriend accomplices help them attempt to cover up their crime by hiding and washing their clothes so the FBI could not trace them as easily. The boys were given minimal sentances (not life or the death penalty) and the girls were given sentances of about 5 years. I think all gay people should proclaim that they are gay and do it as often as possible in public. In a way it helps ensure that we are not beaten, killed, or ridiculed in public because as people realize that our numbers our greater than first imagined and we are not complacent with the status quo then perhaps the next homophobe gaybasher will think twice and not attempt to kill the next Matthew Shephard.
It is obvious that visibility helps further the gay cause which is to be accepted for who we are without fear of retribution. Marching in parades helps. The St. Patrick’s Day Parade is no different. Gay people are from every ethnicity and should be allowed to march. Someone (sorry but I am not going to search through to find out who mentioned it) also mentioned that Firefighters, Policeman, or other similar public servants should march even if they were gay (paraphrased). In truth there is a whole contingent of Gay and Lesbian marchers in the New York City gay pride parade. We really are from every facet of life. Because of the inherent homophobia of our puritanical United States, we are forced to hide from “polite society”. I think not.
There are too many gay men and women who, at an early age, knew that they were gay and were forced into denial or hiding because of that simple fact. I personally have met many married men who are gay but in fact are married to women. They frequent bars or other sex haunts. (If you are married go get a blood test.) Some gay men, like some of every group of people, are just sluts and have no regard for marriage. They (the married gay men) live a double life obviously. If society was less stringent on how it treats gay men and women, they would be less likely to marry someone of the opposite sex out of convenience or to further enforce their cloeted lives than they are currently prone to. Many of these men live their entire lives unhappy because of instances like these. In my personal experiences I have found that small towns are the worst in issues regarding homophobia. It is not that they aren’t quaint. It is just that in smaller towns there is less population, thus less gay visibility. Imagine being in a town where you are from the only black family. At least when you are black you can easily discern who the other people who share your ethnicity are. When you are gay, there aren’t necessarily any discernable characteristics. Ask your husband and they may tell you different. But then again, he may be the one tricking (that is having sex) at the parks, baths, or other sex type club. Just because he is married to you does not mean he is straight. On the rare occasion is this true. I have a friend in Delaware, whom shall remain nameless because I respect him and his wife’s privacy, who is married and “out” to his wife. They stopped having sex a long time ago because he finally told his wife that he is gay. They are both very religious and find the vow to stay together more important than a divorce; however, they are both free to find other love partners, and do. They have been together for 26 years now and were married when they were both in their early twenties. I should point out that this is in the severe minority. Most married (to a woman) gay men are severely closeted and would never dream of telling their wives that they were gay. I have another friend back in San Antonio whose wife left him and their two kids because she is gay. The husband (who is also gay but was faithful to his wife the whole time) won’t tell his kids because they took it so badly when she came out. The stories go on and on.
Back to the parade. We don’t want to march to recruit new homosexuals. We are not a club. We don’t recruit members. We don’t want to march in the parade to incite people to violence, that is what the KKK does. Nor do we want to march in the parade to sicken our straight brethren. It is a way for us to peaceably (sp?) show our numbers in public in a parade that caters to ourselves because of our ethnicity (in the case of the St. Patrick’s Day Parade), our job (policeman/fireman’s parades), or whatever.
To conclude, we have a right to assemble peaceably whenever and wherever we want to. We don’t attempt to spread hateful material. We are just in public proclaiming that we are happy with ourselves for being gay and deliver the message to the younger generation that they don’t have to hide who they are and that they too can be proud of themselves. And if anyone argues that gay people are always happy then why is the suicide rate for gay teenagers triple that of any other class of people?
SqrlCub