SAN DIEGO PRIDE FESTIVAL EXCLUDES MANY OF CITY'S POOR GLBT FOLKS
It has been a while since I actually wrote a post here since most of what I have to say is now on my radio program. You can click here to visit my website.
Today San Diego had their Gay pride parade and the festival Gay pride parade and the festival afterwords. The theme is inclusion - celebrating the SCOTUS decision and the fact that us gay folk in California can, once again, have equal rights under the law. Indeed that is something to celebrate but here in San Diego, at the parade, at least ten cops surround the christian taliban with their megaphones and signs. When you try to engage these domestic light terrorist the cops shew you away. Apparently one does not have the right to tell and old white man with a sign saying gays with burn in hell to go screw himself...so much for our RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF SPEECH!
In Seattle this year, some gay and lesbian folk stood up to the freaks with their hate filled signs that have nothing to do with ANYTHING Jesus Christ preached about. In the video, here, you see people standing up to these hate mongers. The official story said:
Two men were arrested for attacking Christian street preachers at a gay pride festival in Seattle. A video shows the two Christian preachers actively avoiding a man who had approached them in a menacing manner. After members of the NOH8 crowd ripped the protesters’ signs down, at least one of the two Christian preachers was apparently punched repeatedly before police arrived and made two arrests.
PREACHERS...REALLY? HOW ABOUT GAY BASHERS? HOMOPHOBES?
Now some may say this was wrong...remain peaceful is what you always hear from gay rights leadership butit seems to me that it has not worked. These people are bullies. Maybe they do not bully like they teach their kids to do at school but it is the same concept. So long as we cower and allow this hate, spewed out by the christian right, to continue the more it will happen. On the how yesterday, I said that if this were a Martin Luther King day and freaks and bigots were "exercising their right of free speech and peaceful" protest with signs that read "God Hates Niggers" or "Return Slavery of Blacks- God and the Bible said it should be so there would be a riot and black folk would run the bigots out of town.
But when it comes to these hate-filled bastards- that pose as christians but are in reality the Pharisees and freaks their Christ talked about we gay folk are told to just ignore them and let them say what they want. That is enabling and excusing the behavior of these bullies with signs. The only way to make a bully stop verbally or physically abusing someone is for the victims of that abuse to stand up for themselves and take on the bully.
I am not an advocate for violence but when I was in school I had my share of bullying, gay bashing and the like until I stood up for myself and said ENOUGH. It was the only time I was in a "fight" at school and it is not something I am proud of. But after that all the gay bashing and bullying stopped. I transformed from the victim to an empowered young gay person that demanded the right to be treated with dignity and respect and that is exactly what happened.
So I say good for these folks taking on these freaks. While assaulting someone is never a good idea I bet these freaks will think twice before coming to a gay pride celebration with their signs next year. The message was made clear that gay folk are not a bunch of effeminate pansies that can be spoken to or treated anyway anyone feels and they will lay down and take it.
Again I have to wonder why the cops protect these bastards at our parade. Let the folks there run them out of Hillcrest and back to their demon filled dens of hate and bigotry that they call church.
I have another big problem with San Diego Pride.
I still say the festival should be free to ALL...not just those who can afford to go. How many poor gay folk feel excluded at an event that is supposed to be calling for inclusion. The booths cost $500 a day according to a friend that checked into it. What if u are me and have no idea who the headliner is...someone named Monica? If I do not like that music then what am I paying admission for? To walk in a big circle?
I was asked by a friend on Facebook: what can we do about it?
The Pride board ...like everything else in this country...is run by people who have money and who just look for the profit. Unless we get on the board or people, en masse, start objecting to the fact that a good many are excluded because of inability to pay what amounts to a god damn cover charge it will stay the same.
These pride parades and festivals are not about a political statement anymore...it is a weekend for lots of businesses and clubs to make record profits...all merchandising and displaying some of our worst stereotypes at times- at least that is what the media focuses on.
I personally like Pagan Pride in September. I show my gay pride every day by standing up for who I am and taking on the crazed Christian right. On top of all that there is no community. Twinks- unless they suspected I was rich would give me sour puss looks at pride. Lesbians hang with each other. The bears don't talk and hang with the jocks. The trans folks are looked at like drag queens and human beings
So in a year where we are celebrating inclusion under the law the very festival that celebrates that is, again this year, excluding part of the community that simply cannot afford to pay to go into a festival that is supposed to be for all GLBT people and their supporters in the greater San Diego community...not just the ones who can afford it.
Today San Diego had their Gay pride parade and the festival Gay pride parade and the festival afterwords. The theme is inclusion - celebrating the SCOTUS decision and the fact that us gay folk in California can, once again, have equal rights under the law. Indeed that is something to celebrate but here in San Diego, at the parade, at least ten cops surround the christian taliban with their megaphones and signs. When you try to engage these domestic light terrorist the cops shew you away. Apparently one does not have the right to tell and old white man with a sign saying gays with burn in hell to go screw himself...so much for our RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF SPEECH!
In Seattle this year, some gay and lesbian folk stood up to the freaks with their hate filled signs that have nothing to do with ANYTHING Jesus Christ preached about. In the video, here, you see people standing up to these hate mongers. The official story said:
Two men were arrested for attacking Christian street preachers at a gay pride festival in Seattle. A video shows the two Christian preachers actively avoiding a man who had approached them in a menacing manner. After members of the NOH8 crowd ripped the protesters’ signs down, at least one of the two Christian preachers was apparently punched repeatedly before police arrived and made two arrests.
PREACHERS...REALLY? HOW ABOUT GAY BASHERS? HOMOPHOBES?
Now some may say this was wrong...remain peaceful is what you always hear from gay rights leadership butit seems to me that it has not worked. These people are bullies. Maybe they do not bully like they teach their kids to do at school but it is the same concept. So long as we cower and allow this hate, spewed out by the christian right, to continue the more it will happen. On the how yesterday, I said that if this were a Martin Luther King day and freaks and bigots were "exercising their right of free speech and peaceful" protest with signs that read "God Hates Niggers" or "Return Slavery of Blacks- God and the Bible said it should be so there would be a riot and black folk would run the bigots out of town.
But when it comes to these hate-filled bastards- that pose as christians but are in reality the Pharisees and freaks their Christ talked about we gay folk are told to just ignore them and let them say what they want. That is enabling and excusing the behavior of these bullies with signs. The only way to make a bully stop verbally or physically abusing someone is for the victims of that abuse to stand up for themselves and take on the bully.
I am not an advocate for violence but when I was in school I had my share of bullying, gay bashing and the like until I stood up for myself and said ENOUGH. It was the only time I was in a "fight" at school and it is not something I am proud of. But after that all the gay bashing and bullying stopped. I transformed from the victim to an empowered young gay person that demanded the right to be treated with dignity and respect and that is exactly what happened.
So I say good for these folks taking on these freaks. While assaulting someone is never a good idea I bet these freaks will think twice before coming to a gay pride celebration with their signs next year. The message was made clear that gay folk are not a bunch of effeminate pansies that can be spoken to or treated anyway anyone feels and they will lay down and take it.
Again I have to wonder why the cops protect these bastards at our parade. Let the folks there run them out of Hillcrest and back to their demon filled dens of hate and bigotry that they call church.
I have another big problem with San Diego Pride.
I still say the festival should be free to ALL...not just those who can afford to go. How many poor gay folk feel excluded at an event that is supposed to be calling for inclusion. The booths cost $500 a day according to a friend that checked into it. What if u are me and have no idea who the headliner is...someone named Monica? If I do not like that music then what am I paying admission for? To walk in a big circle?
I was asked by a friend on Facebook: what can we do about it?
The Pride board ...like everything else in this country...is run by people who have money and who just look for the profit. Unless we get on the board or people, en masse, start objecting to the fact that a good many are excluded because of inability to pay what amounts to a god damn cover charge it will stay the same.
These pride parades and festivals are not about a political statement anymore...it is a weekend for lots of businesses and clubs to make record profits...all merchandising and displaying some of our worst stereotypes at times- at least that is what the media focuses on.
I personally like Pagan Pride in September. I show my gay pride every day by standing up for who I am and taking on the crazed Christian right. On top of all that there is no community. Twinks- unless they suspected I was rich would give me sour puss looks at pride. Lesbians hang with each other. The bears don't talk and hang with the jocks. The trans folks are looked at like drag queens and human beings
So in a year where we are celebrating inclusion under the law the very festival that celebrates that is, again this year, excluding part of the community that simply cannot afford to pay to go into a festival that is supposed to be for all GLBT people and their supporters in the greater San Diego community...not just the ones who can afford it.