Proud To Be Gay, Ashamed To Be Straight

Hey in a more serious note I think the whole issue is plain ridiculous, who cares lets get a day for straight and gays to get together and celebrate.

Originally posted by marg6043
Hey in a more serious note I think the whole issue is plain ridiculous, who cares lets get a day for straight and gays to get together and celebrate.

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Oh my gosh...
Wait, something can't be right here...
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Nope, nope, I've reread it several times and it's true. Marge, we actually agree on something!

I've thought of issues like this before. You can yell "Black Power," "Asian Power," or whatever and no one will care. Yell "White Power" and you usually get shot. Why don't we just discourage "racial power" ideals completely?

[edit on 3-6-2005 by invader_chris]

C'mon, people. Every parade is a heterosexual pride parade--it is redundant to actually use the word in the name of the parade.

Not only that, the motives behind such a thing are an insult to homosexuals who are explicitly excluded from parades--such as the St. Patrick's Day parade in NYC.

By definition, everything is a function of the majority. For members of the majority to start celebrating that fact is called GLOATING.

Minorities, on the other hand, who play a minor part (get it?) of majority celebrations--if they are allowed a role at all, need to have celebrations and outlets of their own to express themselves.

This is why magazines like JET and networks like BET are important. They exist not to exclude white people, but to include a place for African-Americans in society.

It is crass for members of the majority to be outraged. Share some of your toys for once...

I agree, it would be crass to be outraged at the celebration of a minority. The outrage here applies to the double standard, not the fact that the holiday exists. I don't like the hypocracy. The cries for freedom, but only for us. That's where the controversy is. People are being called homophobes and bigots because they are proud of who they are. They're not saying it's bad to have a gay pride day, they're saying, essensially, hey, that's a good idea, let's have one for my group, too.

What would a heterosexual pride parade be like?

"Here comes the United Breeders Union with thier enourmous floating copulation inflatable"
"Behind them are the Free and Accepted Cheating Housewives of America"
"And now the famous St. Anna's Catholic Girls Who Go Down and Do Anal Baton Twirling Team"
"What a day folks, it sure is good to be straight, I feel so much pride I'm like a rock!"

Seriously, what are these people thinking?

Again, WE HAVE A WHITE ENTERTAINMENT TELEVISION! IT IS CALLED TV! Not one black man on Animal Planet, not one black man on Lifetime, not one black man on ABC Family, hell, Darth Vader in E3 has more black in him then NBC.(what shows do they have that star a black person? NONE!)

The only black person on NBC is Berg(sp?) from Judge Judy. But he isn't a lead, he is just there. Wait, Law and Order, Detective Green is Black, and his boss, but his boss and him aren't real main characters, the white lawyers are. Still no leading black roles on NBC.

What black people are on CBS? You got Warrick from CSI, and thats not a leading role, that role is held by a white man.

ABC? IDK, I don't watch it anymore.

Fox and UPN are the only non-BET channels that have black people on it.

Wait, Spike TV has a black person! There is a Star Trek series on it every now and then at 3-4am, and that has a black person! And Warrick from CSI between 7-9 on weekdays. And hmmm, no, Booker T is Smackdown so on UPN, same with Terry Long, and Orlando Jones(I think, might be Jordan, not sure)

Straight TV? Lifetime, Fox, CBS, Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, Travel Channel, MTV, VH1, BET, hey, there is no Gay TV...... SO QUIT YOUR BITCHIN!

Hmmm, straight days, Valentine Day, St. Patrick Day, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, 4th of July, Memorial Day, Flag Day, Labor Day, New Years Eve, April Fools, July 3rd, November 8th, Janurary 19th, basically everyday but the one where they have a parade.

So again, QUIT YOUR FREAKING BITCHIN! WE ARE THE MAJORITY! WE CAN NOT BE OPPRESSED!

Originally posted by James the Lesser


Hmmm, straight days, Valentine Day, St. Patrick Day, Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, 4th of July, Memorial Day, Flag Day, Labor Day, New Years Eve, April Fools, July 3rd, November 8th, Janurary 19th, basically everyday but the one where they have a parade.

I have a slight problem with this line of thought here. These holidays and such you mention are for EVERYONE. Not just white people. Jeez, get a grip. America accepts everyone for what they are. We have society that accepts everybody now. BUT we have to make acceptions for people who have had a crappy history. That is the straight truth. No sugar coating. That is where the PC comes in. If gay people can have a parade then straight people should be allowed as well. Talk about class warfare.................... Jeez some of you people are playing right into their polarizing little wringing hands.

Originally posted by centurion1211

No. The real issue is and has always been giving a level playing field to all. You do not accomplish that by reverse discrimination against any group. You know, the old "two wrongs don't make a right" saying. A level playing field requires that any and all groups (even heterosexuals and whites!) be given the same opportunities as are given to gays and minorities.

No. The real issue is the fact that not all groups have a level playing field. If ther was a level playing field there wouldn't be legislation against them enjoying the same rights and freedoms as everyone else. They pay taxes into a system (just like you and I) but their tax dollars dont benefit their lifestyle at all.
How can you tell me that a homosexual man who pays his taxes is considered equal when he cannot get the same tax benefits as a married couple with his significant other??

Is THAT a level playing field?

How can someone who is a part of the same sytem as everyone else not be allowed to marry the person who he/she chooses to spend the rest of their lives with because that person happens to be the same sex as them??

Is THAT a level playing field??

Originally posted by Kidfinger

I have a slight problem with this line of thought here. These holidays and such you mention are for EVERYONE. Not just white people. Jeez, get a grip. America accepts everyone for what they are. We have society that accepts everybody now. BUT we have to make acceptions for people who have had a crappy history. That is the straight truth. No sugar coating. That is where the PC comes in. If gay people can have a parade then straight people should be allowed as well. Talk about class warfare.................... Jeez some of you people are playing right into their polarizing little wringing hands.

These so called holidays might be for "everyone" on the surface but they most certainly do NOT represent "everyone". As one put it in an earlier post - Many of those parades don't even allow homosexuals to have a float in the parade.

How is that for everyone?

White History Month? LOL!

Isn't every day white history day? This is silly. You're not silly. I know what you meant, but I've actually heard people who were serious about having a white history month.

You want to know history? Read Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your American History Textbook Got Wrong.

That'll wake you up.

-O

I dunno, maybe it's just me (and I'm sure it is) but every parade I went to bored the hell out of me. "Oooo look at the floats. I'm gonna get a beer now and stare at the wall--the paint's getting ready to dry." It's just a parade, gay, straight, turkeys, Santa Claus, whatever. As far as pride goes, why can't we just be proud to be alive, or human, or something everyone has in common?

I'll admit, I'm a white American hetero male. The way I look at it is everyone's against me in one way or another now days because of race or sexuality. Just because of what I was born as, I am almost completely politically INcorrect without even saying a word. I have to bust my ass to make up for stuff that everyone else has done wrong. And "majority" is relative. I now live in Washington State, the first place I've lived my entire 24 years where I am not in the local minority. The areas I lived in in Southern California and West Texas are predominantly Hispanic. Until recently I was never in the "majority."

The way I look at it, it doesn't matter if you're black, white, gay, straight, whatever. If you get to have a parade, then so do I. If I get to have a television station, so do you. Equality works both ways, and everyone should get their fair slice of the cake.

I don't understand the oppression blame either. Someone else beat the crap out of you and oppressed you and that's my fault? Hey, don't take it out on me because they're a jacka**. I'll listen to you if you want to vent and get it out of your system, but contrary to what you might think, I didn't evict you, fire you, beat you, whatever. Why should I be held accountable for what someone else did? I think Fat Mike put it best when he said

Go ahead and label me an a**hole cuz I can
Accept responsibility for what I've done but not for who I am.

EDIT: That quote might seem a little more relevant in the context of the song (Don't Call Me White by NOFX)...

[edit on 6/3/2005 by MCory1]

Sorry guys I got to do it.

WHY does it matter what benifits you get here, can't you just be happy as is. I know I am and anyway....

"There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 4:28)

every parade I went to bored the hell out of me

Yeah parades suck anyways.....I say instead of a parade there should be a nation wide hetero bachelor party for all the guys, with the works, the whole nine.

And Im all about equal rights...so there should also be a gay bachelor party...and they can do whatever they want...I don't care, don't bother me.

Originally posted by junglejake
I agree, it would be crass to be outraged at the celebration of a minority. The outrage here applies to the double standard, not the fact that the holiday exists. I don't like the hypocracy. The cries for freedom, but only for us. That's where the controversy is. People are being called homophobes and bigots because they are proud of who they are. They're not saying it's bad to have a gay pride day, they're saying, essensially, hey, that's a good idea, let's have one for my group, too.

There is no double-standard. Heterosexuals have freedom. They have more than freedom--the government is actually so pro-heterosexual that they incentivize heterosexual behavior, like marriage and childbirth.

I have a hard time believing that something called the "heterosexual pride parade" was given that name out of the blue--and created because heterosexuals are lacking public recognition of heterosexuality and need to publicly celebrate their heterosexualness.

A better answer seems to be that it was created in response to the Gay Pride parade. And that casts doubt on the credibility of the creators of the event. Bigots? Could be. Homophobes? Perhaps. Self-centered whiners with no idea of what it means to be oppressed? Most definitely.

The point that you seem to be missing is that the need for groups to define themselves, create public awareness, and celebrate their identity is a need unique to minorities. The majority is already clearly defined, everybody is aware of it, and celebrating that fact to the point of excluding everyone else happens every day. If you belong to a minority, you have little opportunity to celebrate your culture or beliefs because of the dominance of the majority, which is why special events are necessary.

America doesn't accept everyone for what they are--homosexuals are excluded from the St. Patrick's Day parade, African Americans are virtually absent from Prime Time Television, and when was the last time you saw someone other than a white male playing in the NHL?

So because of the imbalance present in society, minority groups need to compensate. There is no imbalance for the majority.

Perhaps it will help to think of it as a math problem:

291 million heterosexuals have parades 365 days of the year. 9 million homosexuals ask to use one of those days to hold their own parade. How many fewer heterosexuals can participate in heterosexual parades because of the homosexual parade?

If you answered none, you are correct.

Originally posted by SimonColynAdrian


Thank you for that post.

The reason why we have Pride anything for minority groups is so that WE, as the Majority, can openly, honestly, express to the Minorities that they are welcome in this big melting pot called America and are not looked at as objects of ridicule or hatred.

"You were born a white man in mid-twentieth century industrial
America. You came into the world armed to the teeth with an arsenal of
weapons. The weapons of privilege...racial privilege, sexual privilege,
economic privilege. You wanna be a pacifist, it's not just giving up guns and
knives and clubs and fists and angry words, but giving up the weapons of
privilege, and going into the world completely disarmed. Try that."

Oh, #ing spare me. That crap just made me want to vomit. What utterly ignorant drek, that because youre white, somehow, you must be born with privilage. Why dont you go someplace, like, oh, lets say, Tug River Valley in West Virginia, or some podunk town in Kansas. See how privilaged those white people are. Oh, thats right, youre a PC Nazi. Those people are all stupid, poor white trash. They are dumb hicks, too dumb to move from their homes and move to your delightful, englightened, overchoked cities. Yup, their race and priviliage gets them everywhere, doesnt it.

Yet somehow, this racial privilage has passed me by. Wheres my arsenal of contempt? Im white, so why aint I rich? Why havent I breezed through society, eh? Come to think of it, why do most white people I know live below the poverty line? HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM?

Maybe it has something to do with connections more than race, eh?

Yes, we do live in a predominantly heterosexual nation. Does that mean that it's not alright to be hetero? We can't be proud of it? The only ones allowed to openly show pride are minority groups? Perhaps the initial parade idea was homophobic in its conception; that wouldn't surprise me at all. If that's the case, then no, it shouldn't be allowed. But there are no blatant displays of hetero pride. While it may be every where in one way or another, it's been a long time since I saw a parade with floats emphasizing straight behavior.

Minorities should be recognized. But does the majority get lesser rights just because they're the majority? Is the minority special just because they're the minority? Hell, there's only one of me; does that mean I get a parade now? I'm outnumbered in this world 6 billion to one--a far bigger ratio than the number of whites to blacks or straights to gays. C'mon everyone, let's celebrate me! No, that'd just be stupid.

There's nothing special about me. I'm human. Who I sleep with isn't something that deserves a parade. The color of my skin doesn't deserve a parade. My religion or lack thereof doesn't deserve a parade. But if you feel that you should get one because you're different than me, shouldn't I get one because I'm different from you?

I personally have never seen an african-american in the NHL (there was one on a minor league hockey team in El Paso, TX, but the fact that El Paso had an ice hockey team was strange enough.) However, I've seen more than a couple blacks in the NFL, NBA, and the MLB, and they seem to be doing plenty good in those sports. In fact, there's only a handful of white guys in those leagues who can hold their own.

well, i for one am sick of the reverse discrimination in america. It seems people think that whites deserved to be oppresed because of the past. Whites are afraid to go against it for fear of being labeled a 'rascist' or a 'bigot' and the white guilt is also a factor that comes from the media. We are supposed to have multiculturalism, unless you are of european descent then you have to be ashamed. the confederate flag is being forced down in the south and white culture is becoming diluted by pop culture designed to make them forget their history.

Well..that's what happens with minorities. Anywhere.

Unfortunately, the double standard doesn't end at sexual orientation. How many times have I heard a minority want their heritage specified, but when it comes to caucasians, you're all one heritage - white. White is NOT a heritage. So as black is not a heritage.

The double standard in this country is quite obvious. I hope that things like the MinuteMan Project will bring light to certain things, and that things will be DONE about these problems..

-wD

Originally posted by centurion1211No. The real issue is and has always been giving a level playing field to all. You do not accomplish that by reverse discrimination against any group. You know, the old "two wrongs don't make a right" saying. A level playing field requires that any and all groups (even heterosexuals and whites!) be given the same opportunities as are given to gays and minorities.

But what are the odds of this happening? How about a white anglo-saxon hetrosexual, NRA, pro-war day?


See...it will never happen but if it was all about EQUAL rites, then there would be no issues would there not?