In every city, in every country (apart from the Vatican) once a year, every year, the town is painted pink and the boys come out to play for pride.
Pride Manchester was my first last year. I went with a couple of gay girlfriends and my boyfriend of the time. Nothing I saw there made me proud. I saw people that painted their faces trying oh so hard to find that identity, yet not understanding what they were looking for in the first place. I saw queers pelting rocks and abuse at protesting christian groups, without thinking that maybe that makes them as bad as the people they threw their stones at. I saw acclaimed bands and renowned artistes milking the pink pound while I knew that next week they were due to duet with some crazy homophobic rapper. I saw drunk people being sick in the streets, and sick people being drunk. I saw rainbow flags being sold to keep someone in good pocket, and with no charitable cause connection. I saw a mess.
Who here is proud of being pride?
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Re:Proud To Be Pride
Date: 2006/03/10 19:46
By: eversweet
Status:
Ugh, that's terrible. Nothing like that happens where I live. I think pretty much every night here is a big party anyway lol. We're well known for being a party town, and the gay community and tourism industry (Turtle Cove is just around the corner) is huge here, and every Friday night there's a huge culture festival thing, and there's someone from every type of community and culture there, and a lot of local gays helping raise money for whatever - local schools, churches, RSPCA, GBLT youth groups. I love living here, besides the lack of a good education system. I don't know about Pride though, as a annual event sort of thing, we're probably a little too regional for that(our cities are more like towns here), though there was a huge celebration here after the Mardi Gras in Sydney, and everyone came up here. ~Megan~
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Re:Proud To Be Pride
Date: 2006/03/10 23:06
By: theoneandonly
Status:
hmm.. an interesting topic... I believe these over the top "celebrations" of gay "culture" do more damage than good. I'm sure there are people that disagree with me, but these events, the larger of which are broadcasted all over the world, paint the gay community as over the top and almost a joke. Sure, I do think there is a time and place to show.. um...I donno.. "pride" but it seems as though people are using their sexuality as a reason to have a party. It seems as though many of these events set the gay community back, rather than bring it forward. Derrick!
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Re:Proud To Be Pride
Date: 2006/04/20 04:41
By: dragonking
Status:
here in melbourne pride march is part of the midsumma festival and help in early feb. I've only been to the last 2 and marched in both of em but its always great fun
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Re:Proud To Be Pride
Date: 2006/05/26 10:53
By: bababoo
Status:
I'm ashamed tbh
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Re:Proud To Be Pride
Date: 2006/05/26 21:21
By: BATMAN
Status:
Proud to say, our Gay Youth Pride festival, called the Bend It! Extragavanza, is more out to help educate than to throw parties. It follows soon after the actual Gay Pride event here in Seattle and is more focused on our younger queers and the questioning. It's tons o' fun, but still kept in check. They might not do it this year, though. Lack of volunteers and all. With the rise of rap music and fake Christians, homophobia's been let loose among our little metropolis. Viva la vie Boheme!
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Re:Proud To Be Pride
Date: 2006/05/28 09:10
By: sam
Status:
Pride displays tends to be counterproductive in that outrageous displays of drugs, sex, and inappropriate behavior won't let us gain any respect. The media, unfortunately, is prone to exaggerating and focusing on these negatives. On the flip side, bad attention might be better than no attention- where I live, our meager GSA parade entry gets the silent treatment when they walk down the street- but greater organization and responsibility among big-city parades/displays is needed.
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Re:Proud To Be Pride
Date: 2006/06/22 18:58
By: joel90
Status:
This sunday were having our pride parade. I went last year for the first time and I was blown away. I didn't feel alone in the crowd, I actually felt like I was somewhere I belonged. I was with my boifriend (at the time ) and it felt so good to have our arms around eachother and have a kiss in the crowd instead of hiding our feelings from everyone. This year I'll be going alone but I don't care I'm excited to go there again. I'll let you all know how it was.
Is there somewhere here where I can post pictures of the parade?
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Re:Proud To Be Pride
Date: 2006/06/29 14:28
By: kinaholik
Status:
I dont think i could be comfortable in a Pride parade. I was raised to think that you don't have to flamboyantly display who you are as long as you know who you are and are happy with that. A lot of people like the pride parade but a lot of people are against it. Who are we to force something like this into people's faces and expect them to unconditionally accept? Anyways, just my views. Sorry for the ranting. Pardon my ranting. I really am crazy today.
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Re:Proud To Be Pride
Date: 2006/07/03 02:11
By: Bazzy
Status:
i must say that i think ithis is a bit of a cynical thread!
Europride in london this year was my first pride event that iv gone to and i must say it was a fucken blast!
I h8 to say this but get off your fucken high horse! PRIDE means jus that, we should be proud of who we are. Evan though yeah i do agree that some of the costumes may have been a bit revealing and junk, but heck atleast their proud of who they are!
i well enjoyed it, it really made methink of my 13 yr old self wen i thought i was the only one and then i looked around and saw soo many gay/les ppl holding hands dancing kissing and it filled me with a warmth.
Please don't forget all the struggle that our fore fairy fathers went through so that we could enjoy such events.
i defo know where your comin from and sometimes ppl will just think we're a bunch of party boys, but you know wot we are! we're other things as well but partying is why i signed up to the whole gay life style!
If you want to change the face of PRIDE rather than bitch why not get up and do something about it! AAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!
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Re:Proud To Be Pride
Date: 2006/07/03 02:19
By: Bazzy
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and to let you know yes i was one of the ones who dressed up all gay!
i know i must sound like a rite freak, but this thread has well and truly annoyed me.
pride is all about everyone standing up united against homophobia, yes we do it with a flare but that is who we are.
and i know this is goin to sound like a well bitchy comment but i think that all the gay people who couldn't march in a PRIDE parade obviously arent proud of who they are or wot sexuality they are.
there end of rant i know i sound like a bitch but that is only becos that some people on this thread seem to be realy snooty and so up their own ass theres no room for cock! which really pisses me off. My ex used to look down on me and now i cnt fucken stand it wen ppl think they're better than someone/something else.
neway rant over AAAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!
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Re:Proud To Be Pride
Date: 2006/07/03 06:39
By: squidged
Status:
Right, I say this as someone who has not been to a pride yet although I am going to Manchester Pride in August. From what I can tell from friends stories, it depends upon who you've gone with and individual experiences. However, the media coverage that these parades attract is not always the best advertisement for our culture. I'm not saying scrap them - there are far too many reasons not to - but I sometimes wonder if men with nippleclamps and other S&M paraphernalia is going to show the world that we're to be taken seriously. Life is like a sewer: What you get out of it, depends on what you put into it
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) and it felt so good to have our arms around eachother and have a kiss in the crowd instead of hiding our feelings from everyone. This year I'll be going alone but I don't care I'm excited to go there again. I'll let you all know how it was.
