For those who object to sexy guys in speedos on Pride floats, we LGBTQ people ask where all the Christian anger is over Mardi Gras parades and ... I don't know, entire entertainment industries that glamorize straight sexiness.
When's the last time you ever heard of organized groups of Christians protesting against Fat Tuesday in New Orleans or Rio?
I haven't noticed significant groups of Christians boycotting Hollywood lately.
The average Pride parade is as ordinary and, frankly, about as boring as most parades. If you actually go to one, you're most likely to see groups of people marching by with signs, bands playing slightly out of tune, floats with political or other VIP dignitaries whose smiles look exhausted and pasted on. (Because nobody can smile genuinely for 3 or 4 hours without a break.)
You'll see parents groups, friends groups, kids groups, health groups. You'll see marchers representing community organizations, gyms, churches, travel agencies, and yes – bars.
Gay bars used to be our big hangouts, because we weren't welcome almost anywhere else. Certainly not in church. That's changing, and gay bars as an important part of our culture are fading away, but we still like to celebrate them and remember the critical role they played once.
And yes, on bar floats, you will probably see gogo boys in tight speedos and maybe a lesbian or three without a top. I don't personally have any problem with that. I don't find celebration of sexuality to be disturbing.
If anybody does, well, that's a minuscule part of what Pride events are.
You'd rarely guess that, though, watching media coverage. Because the cameras aren't taking pictures of the boring groups of people just marching by, or the out-of-tune bands. Or the parents and grandparents supporting their kids.
If people really want to know what Pride is about, if people really want to taste the atmosphere of love and acceptance, the transcendent joy of it all, they need to come in person and see it and feel it.
When people complain about how hypersexualized Pride events are, that tells me one thing. They've never actually attended one.
