I am of two minds on this one. I was at the first GAY Pride when it began....it was a group of under a thousand having a picnic at the Grange Park, discussing the anti-gay society we lived in and the issues we had to address. I have attended many since then, but very few after that. None as of late. Why? It isn't Pride in being different....with corporate sponsorships from vodkas, banks, unions etc.....it means very little to me anymore...it seems to be pride in EVERYTHING that makes money or represents the most shallow of my community and, quite frankly, other communities as well. There was a time when yelling to the world that you were different, but acceptable, was important, but now PRIDE seems to have become a chance to yell...."Look at me and the rest of us...we are all conformist....we are either muscle guys/gals who work out, we have procreated (somehow), we have an enjoyment of living our lives naked, we are queer high school kids, we are transgendered people who have had the surgery versus those who are just on hormones..... It is now a movement that goes against everything it stood for....it was a chance to say to the heterosexual, white world that there other lives to be treasured, not because they had to be "differently chose or led", but because they were GIVEN and couldn't be changed without deceit. It was about recognizing that others mattered because they couldn't choose to be different, they just WERE. What you do AFTER that is your business. Pride has become not "your" business, but "THE Business". Appalling really, because there were so many who gave up a lot to defend and fight for what so many have today.....and they shit on it....pity! They shit on the older members of their community who endured so much and sacrificed to achieve....is that EVER celebrated by the parade, the committee or the people who show up? NO. Sucks.....yes! Should Rob Ford show up....he said he won't...who cares....he is saying he won't show up to a joke of what it was and was supposed to be, anyway. I would have wanted him to show up when it was "young" and meant something....but not now. Sorry. He doesn't add anything to the city now, why would you want him at the parade? Who cares, the parade is nothing more than a money maker. The Parade doesn't represent anyone I know and I know no one who "represents" themselves at it anymore, anyway. The mayor will not be the mayor in a couple of years....he will be a footnote in our city as he will offer nothing of what he promised....invite the "real" intelligentsia of the city to the parade....they always do and will attend.....you don't host a BBQ for "family" and invite Porky Pig.....do you?.....No....you'd offend Porky and he wouldn't want to be "roasted", anyway. LET.....IT.......GO! (*N.B. - The mayor of "bugtussle" is still reeling from not being able to attend anymore Lingerie Football League games....sad, but true. Points are: 1) Don't invite a belligerent drunken guest you don't want anyway 2) Don't invite anyone who can't publicly speak who is required to do so at your event 3) Don't be so think skinned you can't look at your own community's "mores" before you expect more 4) Don't pretend you were there when it all began and think that the CNE version of being gay is what got all of us where we are today........I'm done ranting, but I could go on....if anyone challenges, haha
)
