to close for comfort

[mermaid]

"As far as the rock video goes, I don't think that flamboyant gay pride parades, featuring leather-clad men in pink feather boas deep kissing on top of a rainbow float, do much to shatter stereotypes, nor to endear the gay community to the hearts of conservative America."
-ha ha, probably not but then maybe that wasn't thier target audiance. The parades may just have made a few scared teenagers or closet flamboyand 40 year olds more comfortable about themselves, or those conservative americans thankful, for the quiet gay couple running the local bookstore....or maybe nothing could endear the gay community to them.
Different strokes needed for different things and I see no reason why they should compete. I found this site so useful because I wanted to hear people's expereinces....if they were put together ina book so that they weren't chopped up into posts and had been reviewed by the person as a whole that would have been even better I think,
then again 'Lost sis''s dynamic PMs saved me spending a full night in a hotel bar once just to stop myself crying when I'd cried form 9pm to 2pm and she helped me stop. Jennifer / 'Comm Awareness' helped my hubby so much through emails and he wouldn't have got them without this site but the site was useless to him in itself.
m

[osiris]

Originally Posted by mermaid

The parades may just have made a few scared teenagers or closet flamboyand 40 year olds more comfortable about themselves, or those conservative americans thankful, for the quiet gay couple running the local bookstore....or maybe nothing could endear the gay community to them.

Oh, no doubt in my mind, Mermaid, that Gay Pride parades do accomplish their agenda of encouraging gay people to feel proud of themselves and their (probably genetically determined) sexual preference, which is certainly preferable to feeling shame, fear, and self-loathing. In this way, I think Gay Pride parades are probably a good thing.

On the other hand, if I were trying to integrate into a society that was antipathetic to my lifestyle, and by extension to me personally, then I might try to emphasize all that I and people like me had in common with people in the mainstream, rather than accentuating the most obvious differences—those differences, in fact, that society is most leery of, and implying (intentionally or otherwise) that those are the things in which my community is or should be proud of.


"No, really, we're just like everyone else. What do you mean you don't want me teaching your children?"

By the same token, if I were organizing a GSA Pride Parade, I would want to avoid any imagery that might perpetuate any negative stereotypes that the public may have toward our community, while attempting to convince onlookers that we are non-threatening and at least as normal as they are.


What I wouldn't include in a GSA Pride parade.

[mermaid]

yeah...but some in the gay rights movement took the offensive steryotype and turned it around - what with the credit crunch and global warming I think the Clampet's time might be nigh (although if there were GSA relationships in it then they must have gone over my head). I reakon there's a place for apeasment and integration and a place for saying here we are, deal with it (and a place for saying I'm just living my life and my sexuality / personal life are none of your business).
Some people will be won over by emphasising similarities, others are bullies who need to be shouted back into their corner

[osiris]

Originally Posted by mermaid

yeah...but some in the gay rights movement took the offensive steryotype and turned it around -

Sure. And to that extent, I certainly applaud the efforts of the gay community. Their victories are, indirectly, ours as well.

what with the credit crunch and global warming I think the Clampet's time might be nigh (although if there were GSA relationships in it then they must have gone over my head).

There were a few jokes and songs floating around the school playground in America implying that Uncle Jed was the father of Ellie Mae's illegitimate (and ultimately aborted) baby. Children can be cruel.

I reakon there's a place for apeasment and integration and a place for saying here we are, deal with it (and a place for saying I'm just living my life and my sexuality / personal life are none of your business). Some people will be won over by emphasising similarities, others are bullies who need to be shouted back into their corner.

Agreed. To a point. People don't like things shoved in their faces, particularly when they're predisposed to find those things objectionable. I think that if one's goal is to gain legal and societal approval of one's lifestyle, it would be more effective to live outwardly as an exemplar of respectability and normalcy (regardless of how one behaves with one's partner behind closed bedroom doors), to challenge the penal codes in court, and perhaps lobby the legislature to get the laws changed, than it would be to start snogging with one's sister in a pub, announcing "this is my sis, we're in love, and if you don't like it, you can get stuffed!"

[mermaid]

well I have alwasys found exemplars of respectability deeply suspect.......

[cap]

edited by cap

[osiris]

Originally Posted by mermaid

well I have alwasys found exemplars of respectability deeply suspect.......

Well of course you do. It's because they have got something to hide!

[osiris]

Originally Posted by cap

I wish people wouln't delete their posts, good gosh... :-)

I know, it's annoying, isn't it? :P

[Reflection]

I warned him, now he's in jail on a $45,000 bail after the police confiscated his computer and bed sheets. I knew this whole gsa thing was bad news. Let this be a lesson on how real the consequenses are for this sort of behavior. Sheiseverythingtome is very poor and needed to take in borders to help pay his rent, who then reported him to the police. The whole town thought heiseverythingtome was sheiseverythingtome's girlfriend, no one knew it was his underage daughter.
I suspect that he's facing a 10-20 year sentence.

[Reflection]

Originally Posted by osiris

I know, it's annoying, isn't it? :P

after my last post, I think you can see why. "annoying" is a small price to pay for privacy