A parade will never be by the farthest stretch of the imagination the equal of the evil that went on the concentration camps. How about piles of human hair from the victims being woven in the seat covers for Mercedes Benz back then. How about the piles of eyeglasses, shoes, even piles of enamel cookwear (like that made at Schindler’s factory in Krakow, Poland etc)all this on display at Auschwitz from people who no clue they were going to their deaths, only that they were “going somewhere else”. You should view these concentration camps yourself if you haven’t already. I saw 3 of these place of extreme hard labor and of thousands of execution with so many bullets in the top inch of soil at Plasow Krakow that a casual digging in the ground with just a stick turns them up here and there. A whole entire Jewish community and Jewish cemetery was blown up by the Germans there. Jewish prisoners had to dig deep holes through solid rock in a hillside. This place in Krakow was also a transfer point for thousands of Polish and Hungarian Jews on their way to death. Thousands of Jews, Gypsies, gays and Slavs and other non Germans perished in the camps.

Again when is a parade the equal of any that?

The comparisons are valid.. If anyone thinks the images of bare-breasted lesbians and men in bondage gear – public nudity, etc is going to bring us acceptance by average Americans, you are mistaken as well..

And straights disdain gay and lesbians because of the images we portray in public during these regrettable parades. It boggles my mind that you cannot make the conncection. Someone else said you have your head in the sand. I’ll rephrase it. You are choosing not to see or accept reality.

I understand your frustration with this but I think it would make no difference whatsoever how we behaved in these parades. We could all get dressed formally and march in community groups and “normal” issue groups and those who choose to hate us will still see a bunch of men swishing around scantily clad and woman in flannel shirts with the sleeves cut off (all of which if perfectly fine as far as I am concerned but only one aspect of who we all are as a people).

This sort of thing (the I’m not like THOSE people) really gets me angry.

I don’t have agree with all the stuff I see in that parade but those are still my people.

I can’t stand when someone straight says to me “Well I never would have guessed in a million years that you were gay?”

What?? Is that supposed to be a compliment or something? The old “Your cool your not like the rest of THEM”. Yet how many of us have at least thought in the back of the minds if not said aloud to the person who just made that insulting “compliment” “Thank You”.

I was watching a clip from the NY Pride Parade a few weeks ago that featured a man dressed up as the indian from the Village People saying, “We just want the same rights as everyone else.” My first and immediate thought: “No, you don’t. You want special rights.” And this is where GLBT people are at: a point where we must accept that with power comes responsibility. If we don’t accept the responsibility of behaving appropriately according to long-held standards of decency (i.e. indecent exposure), we will not be treated with respect, and neither will we be treated with legal equality. Homosexuality isn’t about libertinage, but those “queens” in assless chaps don’t prove that. You might not agree with that statement, but that doesn’t make it untrue.

I do not wear assless chaps in public (for example), but I am still treated like a sexual libertine when people find out about my preference. Why? Because of those people that *do*. How can I (or anyone else) possibly transcend that image when it is the image being projected not just by the media, but by our fellow community members?

There is a double standard being put forth by GLBT people: the desire for legal equality without any sense of social responsibility. Why should GLBT people be allowed to expose themselves indecently in public? Because it makes you feel bad to be called out for hedonism or libertinage? Grow up.

“With great power comes great responsibility.” – Stan Lee and Steve Ditko

My freaky, homo, gay azz is happy and that makes them powerless; them being the haters of all sorts (right wing bible bigots or insecure LGBT).

When I was about 20yrs old, like the guy who said he was insulted by other gays because of his weight…. I had 3 tired old queens standing near me and they just started talking trash about me. “she must be a slut or a bitch” “look at him probably stuck on himself and thinks he’s so pretty” bla bla bla.

I was and still am SUPER SHY and was and am one of the nicest person ever (they made no attempt to try and know me, was easier I guess to insult and hurt me).

So ya, lots of SHIT comes from within our own “community”. I just remain happy and healthy and let the haters hate, it’s their problem, straight or gay.