Terrifyingly Fabulous, or How I got kicked out of Atlanta Gay Pride

[justben]

I had a lot of fun at the Atlanta Pride Festival today. It was deeply satisfying to see so many wonderful people in an environment where where they can express their love for their chosen partners without society frowning on them simply because their chosen partners happen to be the same gender or sex as they are. It was fun to see people enjoying

Comments

[earendel]

Well you have to admit with all the threats and violence made against gays over years, a trench coat that could hide a shot gun or bomb is a bit unnerving.

[starlancer]

Especially when it's nearly 90 degrees F outside.

I dunno, I understand being bugged by being asked to leave, but I also understand why people in that venue would see it as threatening, and possibly even more so when a reason for wearing it is given as "it goes woosh." I know Ben, and I know how that's meant, but if I did not know him I'd take it as reason #2 (after the wool coat on a 90 degree day) to think the wearer might not have both oars in the water.

It really is a bit suspicious.

[justben]

See my response to earendel below.

Seriously even remotely justifiable? Frankly, I think that attitude says something pretty damned sad about society and about anyone who would accept it as a necessary evil.

[starlancer]

There is plenty that is pretty damned sad about society, and you've hit on one of the sad things.

OTOH, wishing it were not so does not make it not so. Events have been as they have and attitudes are as they are. It's sad, but true, so I can understand why they were concerned. Sad, but true.

[justben]

Wishing it were not so may not make it not so, but there’s a big difference between irrational concern from the general populace on one hand and on the other hand people in positions of responsibility lacking either the judgement or the power to respond appropriately.

[starlancer]

So what is appropriate? They check you out and know you don't have anything dangerous. But they will continue to get complaints about this (probably un-naturally jovial) guy in a wool trench coat when it's 90 degrees. They ask you to take it off, carry it or put it away, and you don't have a place to put it away and don't want to carry it. What are they going to do?

Ok, you want them to say, "sure, sir, sorry for the trouble, go on your way" and I see that. But I can also see why a lot of people (not the entire group of course, that was absurd) would be uncomfortable and continue complaining or asking for them to check you out. They might have spent the rest of the day explaining that they already HAD checked you out and, while you were weird enough to insist on wearing a long wool coat on a hot summer day in Atlanta, you were in fact not dangerously weird

[justben]

They might have spent the rest of the day explaining that they already HAD checked you out and, while you were weird enough to insist on wearing a long wool coat on a hot summer day in Atlanta, you were in fact not dangerously weird..

Explaining? No explaining necessary. “Yep, checked him out; he’s harmless,” is simple enough to say many times over.

I'd really say it's kind of unreasonable to insist on wearing a long wool trench coat...

Why? Seriously, what’s dangerous about a coat? Or, more precisely, what’s dangerous about a coat that’s not similarly dangerous about the bags that countless other people were carrying? And for that matter (radiantbaby pointed this out over dinner), how would carrying my coat around have solved anything? With all that mass and drape it certainly wouldn't make it any less effective at concealing the imaginary weapons of terror these people were dreaming up

[starlancer]

I understand your point of view, really. On the other hand, I think I understand theirs, and why a trenchcoat in the middle of summer is likely to be perceived at least as threatening in a way that an adult in a big diaper or weird colored hair isn't. Carrying it around would at least have shown anyone looking that it didn't have anything long and inflexible inside (aka, a shotgun or the like.)

For what it's worth, I do agree the reaction, having once checked you out, was too severe. But, while I don't approve of it, I do understand it to a degree.

(Edited for typo - twice now, it's late/early)

[alfrecht]

If he'd said it was a "fetish," do you think they would have left him alone?

Lots of fetish people carry things that can actually hurt people, like whips and floggers, and have spiked wrist bands, gloves, shoulder pads, and other things. Were there other people dressed like that openly? Were they asked to put away their floggers, or take off their spikes? If the answer is that they were allowed to proceed as normally, then this is entirely and stupidly unreasonable.

For that matter, I think that the "heater" fetish community should now rally around justben, and stand up for the rights of people to be overheated in crowds wearing big coats and several layers because it makes them hot.

[justben]

*giggle*

Ya know, I wish I could pull off that kind of announcement with a straight face. It would be pretty priceless. Alas, I’ve learned that I’m a horrible liar. If I tried to convince someone I had a heater fetish, I’d break out laughing in the middle of explaining. I don’t think it’d help my case.

Definitely fun to think about, though. :-)

[justben]

If I looked even remotely like I were stalking prey I could maybe *maybe* buy that. You know me. I *bounce*. I grin so much some people think I might have facial injuries sticking me that way. I even gave them the benefit of the doubt and cooperated with their security guard when she wanted to look in my pockets. Do you really *honestly* think that they were in any way justified for asking me to leave?

[starlancer]

Justified? Once they'd looked in your pockets, no, not really. But it can be unjustified and still be understandable. All the other folks milling around would not be aware that you had already been checked out and declared mostly harmless.

[earendel]

Its a hard world when folks will attack the olympics or tie kids up with barbwire. Sometimes the pendulem swings a little far the other way. Even though I know you, and others know you, and yeah you don't come across as a mad bomber, I'm sure the pride folks want the perception of a safe place.

[justben]

I completely respect the desire for a perception of safety, but supporting the “He’s weird; he must be dangerous,” hysteria doesn’t buy us that. If anything, it puts us in exactly the same leaky phlosophical boat as broader society is in when they tell eachother that GLBTQ people are weird and therefore dangerous.