30 Jun 2009
Gay Pride?
Having just arrived in America with open eyes,drop jaw and a feeling of excitement deep in my tummy ,I was thrilled to be San Francisco for Pride this year.
It was going to be a massive event.We were told that if we had any chance of seeing anything to do with the weekend, (Yes they have more than a 25 minute parade through the main street) we'd have to give ourselves a hour to travel.I was thrilled to be there.I was honoured to be in the parade working with a worthwhile charity Stop AIDS Project and there was a great general buzz about the place.
But I couldn't help thinking about Dublin Pride, what would we be doing at home?Would the weather be shite ? Would Panti be cracking on about equality and marriage ( I'm glad to say she was). But San Fran didn't seem to have any of this. I had expected people to be a little drunk, a little on drugs and a little messy.I didn't expect hairy old men naked..It was more an excuse to be an oddball than a celebration of all things gay.
Yes the gays have a reputation to be fun,flirty and .........freaks? San Fran really opened my eyes.In a country that is more progressive than Ireland in terms of gay rights and gay marriage/civil partnership,what have they sacrificed to get it?
I went to Pride with two gay friends and brought along another six straight friends who had never experienced anything like this before.To them it showed homosexuals in a negative light.When one friend saw a drunk shirtless man dance with a very young child while the fathers were having a drink themselves not watching the child,for her it was the greatest advertisement that gays should not have children. And while that image could be used for a straight couple or even a single parent, it did look especially bad on the day of celebration when no one seemed to know what it was they were celebrating.
So I think that Dublin Pride , no matter the scale or grandeur has more morals and a bigger politically message to offer people than all the drugs or drink San Fran has.By the end of the day I questioned whether it was Pride or beer that people had inside of them. Small Ireland may be, missing the point of gay pride it is not.