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Proud to be out in force, in step
25 TH ANNUAL STONEWALL COLUMBUS’ GAY-PRIDE PARADE
Sunday, June 25, 2006
Misti Crane, THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
So this is it. His first Pride Parade. He’s 18 and wants to look cute today. He does, adorable in aviator shades and close-cropped blond hair, towering above most of his friends at 6-foot-3. As he waits to march, Michael Eblin remembers being in town for a youth leadership conference when he saw the parade from his window at the Hyatt Regency.
His heart was on High Street.
He grew up in Johnstown, northeast of Columbus in Licking County, and graduated from a class of 102. He shook up things there by starting a gay-straight alliance, a club to foster understanding and acceptance.
But he’s never seen anything like this, never been a part of something he says is so nurturing, empowering and fun. In front of the group he’s marching with, Kaleidoscope Youth Center, a transvestite in a beaded white gown is perched atop a black Hummer pulling a float of men. "The Closet" says a sign in her hands. There are the usuals: a handful of topless gals, some cowboy hats, a good amount of leather. Rainbows, of course, on everything from umbrellas to dogs. Blaring dance music. Eblin and his friends give in to the rhythm. Old guys with beer guts stretching down over thongs. Young guys with abs to kill for. A gay couple in matching black cowboy hats and hemp necklaces. One wears a hearing aide. A boy in blue tie-dye holding a sign: "2 Moms. 2 Dads. Too Cool." There’s all of this, but there’s more. There’s an intangible thing bigger than a rainbow stretching from the 25 th Stonewall Columbus parade’s start at Goodale Park to its end at Bicentennial Park.
Eblin feels it.
"For the first time, I’m going to be part of a majority," he says just before the parade takes off. Between the marchers and the watchers, there were thousands. Organizers had expected more than 80,000.
"It’s so cool. It’s just cool."
As he marches, Eblin passes out Kaleidoscope magnets, promoting the group that serves as safe haven for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender young people.
They cruise along the north edge of Goodale Park, past the growing, cheering flock of Comfesters. Then to High Street. The crowd, in some places seven rows deep, returns his smile, and takes stack after stack of magnets. It hoots and hollers and whistles. He passes a pug in a pink tutu, countless cameras and amateur videographers. Lesbian bikers roar past on Hondas and hogs. He passes a woman trying to remember her first Pride Parade. "It’s hard to even absorb that or put that in words," she tells her friend. Eblin is sweating. The sun is starting to show on his forehead and arms. Along High Street are signs that in their enormity and directness are hard to miss: "Homo sex is sin." "God abhors you." He notices, but doesn’t focus.
"I hear stuff like that at school all the time. It makes me smile. I don’t want to say ‘stupid,’ but they’re ignorant."
Nobody tried to beat him up, but they went after his former boyfriend during gym class.
And they started a rumor that Eblin had AIDS.
He feels like he’s known it forever, that he’s gay. He told his best friend in the seventh grade. She had "this huge crush" on him. He needed a confidante, and they remain close. She now has a girlfriend.
He told his mom last year.
She said the perfect thing: "There’s nothing you could say that would make me stop loving you."
He wept then and fights tears today a couple of times along the way.
It’s overwhelming, he says, walking down High Street, surrounded by support.
©2006, The Columbus Dispatch
(\\__/) And if you don't believe The sun will rise
(='.'=) Stand alone and greet The coming night
(")_(") In the last remaining light. (C. Cornell)
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Thanks EJ, You just gave me an idea how Im gonna come out to my family.
I believe in Karma....what you give is what you get returned........
Affirmation........Savage Garden
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marc
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Needs to get a life! |
Registered: March 2003
Messages: 4729
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I don't understand the "why" question......
Life is great for me... Most of the time... But then I meet people online... Very few are real friends... Many say they are but know nothing of what it means... Some say they are, but are so shallow...
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I have read a lot of posts (not necessarily here) that question the value of Pride parades.
(\\__/) And if you don't believe The sun will rise
(='.'=) Stand alone and greet The coming night
(")_(") In the last remaining light. (C. Cornell)
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be careful....
and remember to always have a plan b (maybe even a plan c) in case things don't work out.
(\\__/) And if you don't believe The sun will rise
(='.'=) Stand alone and greet The coming night
(")_(") In the last remaining light. (C. Cornell)
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Jedediah
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Likes it here |
Location: Made in NZ
Registered: March 2006
Messages: 170
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That sounds like good advice Brian I seriously hope that you're not planning on coming out by turning up in a Gay Pride March.
Cheers
E Te Atua tukuna mai ki au te Mauri tauki te tango i nga mea
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marc
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Needs to get a life! |
Registered: March 2003
Messages: 4729
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What is the value of any other parade?
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade....
Fourth of July Parade....
Memorial Day Parade....
and just about any vegetable or fruit that a town choses to celebrate....
They are a moment to come together as a unit to show support and solidarity.... Throw in a bit of partying and a little campaigning topped off with a sprinkling of happy, safe moments for otherwise frightened young people and you have a parade....
The "value" of a pride parade is not measured in $$$$ but in..... well for lack of a better word..... pride.....
Life is great for me... Most of the time... But then I meet people online... Very few are real friends... Many say they are but know nothing of what it means... Some say they are, but are so shallow...
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Thanks, Marc,
Big parades, of any kind, don't appeal much to me, but this story and your comment put the whole thing into a different and more positive perspective for me.
'They are a moment to come together as a unit to show support and solidarity.... Throw in a bit of partying and a little campaigning topped off with a sprinkling of happy, safe moments for otherwise frightened young people and you have a parade....'
Well said!
By the way, our retiring bishop, Rosemarie Köhn, did join this year's pride parade in Oslo, sitting in an open car in front of the parade, together with leaders of the national lesbian and gay movement.
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cossie
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On fire! |
Location: Exiled in North East Engl...
Registered: July 2003
Messages: 1699
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... too often these things are viewed through blinkers. Whether parades have a material effect on the opinions of the non-gay population is a matter for debate (personally, I think they do have some effect, and it's better to take a short step forward than to stand still) but, as the article shows, they can have a profoundly uplifting effect on those who feel liberated by taking part, and surely that's every bit as important.
For a' that an' a' that,
It's comin' yet for a' that,
That man tae man, the worrld o'er
Shall brithers be, for a' that.
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Permit me to take this discussion a stage further.
In a few weeks time (6-12 August) the Second World Pride event will take place in Jerusalem, Israel. The first World Pride event took place four years ago in Rome. Rome was chosen at that time because the then bishop of Rome, John-Paul II, was known to be a religious homophobe, so the tens of thousands of gay people who gathered in Rome to march and celebrate were sending him a clear message.
The international body that decides these things acceded to the suggestion of the Jerusalem Open House that this year's World Pride take place in Jerusalem. The motto for the event is "Love Without Borders". (Timmy has a link to the World Pride site at the bottom of the Iomfats home page.)
There is enormous pressure from ultra religious elements (of all religions) to "prevent this event taking place at all costs". The ultra-religious mayor of Jerusalem has done everything in his power to make life difficult for the organisers, but to his dismay the courts have boldly sustained the elementary right of gays to parade through the streets of Jerusalem. The basic claim is that Jerusalem is a holy city and its sanctity should not "be polluted by this outrage". The claim of Jerusalem's gay community is that they have just as much right to demonstrate their being a part of the Holy City as any other group - as the courts have determined.
However, even within the gay community there are voices that it would be better to move the World Pride event from Jerusalem to Tel-Aviv, which is a super gay-friendly city and hardly 80 minutes leisurely drive from Jerusalem. (The gay community of Tel-Aviv obviously disagrees with this because they have decided to cancel their own Pride Parade this year so that all the city's gays will join the parade in Jerusalem.)
So, it seems to me, that it is not just a matter of personal pride when one takes part in these parades. It is also a communal statement: "We are here!"
Although the organisers have said quite categorically that the World Pride event will take place in Jerusalem and nowhere else (and the police have undertaken to ensure that the events take place unhindered) I would be interested in your opinion: if you had a say in this matter would you move the event to a more friendly city or dig your heels in and say "in your face"?
The paradox has often been noted that the United States, founded in secularism, is now the most religiose country in Christendom, while England, with an established church headed by its constitutional monarch, is among the least. (Richard Dawkins, 2006)
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13796
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As you'll know we have been supporting this event with a banner for past eternity.
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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Jedediah
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Likes it here |
Location: Made in NZ
Registered: March 2006
Messages: 170
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E Te Atua tukuna mai ki au te Mauri tauki te tango i nga mea
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cossie
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On fire! |
Location: Exiled in North East Engl...
Registered: July 2003
Messages: 1699
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I assume that (despite the views expressed above about the benefit to the participants) the organisers of the event are seeking publicity for the gay cause.
If that assumption is valid, it seems to me that the organisers have not thought through their plans in sufficient depth. Whilst appreciating the iconic status of Jerusalem, strong religious opposition was not merely predictable but inevitable. Despite the backing of the Courts - which is a testament to Israel's determination to protect secular freedoms - there must remain a strong possibility that counter-demonstrations by religious groups or individuals may lead to violence. If that were to happen, and particularly if it led to severe injury or loss of life, the international press are unlikely to be supportive. Confrontational 'in your face' attitudes, even where such attitudes are justifiable, are so easily twisted into negative publicity.
It therefore seems to me that - from what JFR has to say - Tel Aviv would have been the better choice. The venue might have attracted rather less media coverage, but the likelihood of that coverage being supportive would be much greater if the Pride event were enthusiastically recived by the local population.
Of course, at this stage it is pretty well impossible to move the event from Jerusalem. There are logical parallels with Iraq: it would be better not to have gone there in the first place but, having done so, to retreat would be to surrender to the opposition, and that would establish a very undesirable precedent.
So, my conclusion is that the event should have been programmed for Tel Aviv in the first place but, as that did not happen, the disadvantages of a late change of venue far outweight the advantages.
For a' that an' a' that,
It's comin' yet for a' that,
That man tae man, the worrld o'er
Shall brithers be, for a' that.
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Christian leaders slam gay parade
By ETGAR LEFKOVITS
The heads of three prominent Jerusalem-based Christian organizations on Tuesday lambasted plans to hold the World Pride international gay parade in the city this summer, and urged Israeli authorities to reconsider allowing the controversial event to take place.
"It is clear that Jerusalem has been deliberately targeted not because it has any particular significance to the gay and lesbian community, but because of the supreme importance this city holds for those of biblical faith.
"The decision to hold this event in Jerusalem can only be seen as a calculated and confrontational act meant to provoke and offend those who adhere to timeless, biblical moral standards in the very place they hold most dear," a joint statement by the heads of the three Evangelical Christian organizations stated.
The statement was cosigned by Bridges for Peace, Christian Friends of Israel, and the International Christian Embassy in Jerusalem.
Despite widespread city opposition, World Pride organizers reiterated Tuesday that they are determined to hold the international event in Jerusalem in seven weeks time, setting the stage for a major showdown in the city this summer.
"The World Pride event will take place in Jerusalem because we believe Jerusalem should be a center of tolerance, pluralism and humanity. Unfortunately, there are those who prefer Jerusalem to be fanatical, dark, pursuing strife and hatred," said Noa Sattath, chairperson of Jerusalem's Gay and Lesbian Center which is hosting the event.
The planned week-long international gay festival, which was originally scheduled to take place last year but was postponed due to last summer's concomitant Gaza pullout, has been widely criticized by a coterie of conservative Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religious leaders in Jerusalem and around the world as a deliberate affront and provocation.
A public opinion poll released last year found that three-quarters of Jerusalem residents were opposed to holding the event in the city, while only a quarter supported it.
The last international gay parade, which took place in Rome in 2000 despite the wrath of the Vatican, attracted about half a million participants. Local organizers expect tens of thousands of revelers for the Jerusalem event this summer.
The six-day event is slated to include street parties, workshops and a gay film festival.
© 1995 - 2006 The Jerusalem Post
(\\__/) And if you don't believe The sun will rise
(='.'=) Stand alone and greet The coming night
(")_(") In the last remaining light. (C. Cornell)
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cossie wrote:
I assume that (despite the views expressed above about the benefit to the participants) the organisers of the event are seeking publicity for the gay cause.
Only incidentally. They are seeking to establish 'in your face' that gays have the same right to live in Jerusalem as any other group of law-abiding people and to give public expression to their presence. That being the case, they certainly have thought this through. There have been local Pride Parades in Jerusalem in previous years: there has been a lot of 'opposition' but the parades took place and were successful.
Despite the backing of the Courts - which is a testament to Israel's determination to protect secular freedoms - there must remain a strong possibility that counter-demonstrations by religious groups or individuals may lead to violence. If that were to happen, and particularly if it led to severe injury or loss of life, the international press are unlikely to be supportive.
I reported here last year that the Jerusalem Pride Parade was marred by a religious fanatic attempting to kill three of the participants: he is now serving a long jail sentence. The press reaction - all over the world - was very sympathetic to the parade and its organisers.
Cossie, if I follow your reasoning correctly it seems to me that you are saying that Jerusalem's gays do have rights but they would be better advised not to exercise their rights - or to exercise them somewhere else. Is that not tantamount to denying them their rights? What use is a right if you cannot exercise it?
The paradox has often been noted that the United States, founded in secularism, is now the most religiose country in Christendom, while England, with an established church headed by its constitutional monarch, is among the least. (Richard Dawkins, 2006)
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timmy
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Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13796
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Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee. I just love publicity like that. Gay people are making a difference! The bigots are on the back foot.
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
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marc
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Needs to get a life! |
Registered: March 2003
Messages: 4729
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I know this sounds like I am beating the drum from both sides....
But what do you all think???????
I think there is a little bit of difference between bigotry and fundamentalist religous beliefs.....
Just because their view is askew from what we as the greater GLBT community see as correct does not make them bigots..... does it?
Uninformed??? Perhaps....
Not correct??? Perhaps....
ALSO.......
Is there a fundamental difference between being wrong and being incorrect concerning an issue ???
Life is great for me... Most of the time... But then I meet people online... Very few are real friends... Many say they are but know nothing of what it means... Some say they are, but are so shallow...
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I dont think its a point of view so much as the religious fundimentalist use the bible and religion to justify being bigots and raciest. I think being wrong is just flat out being ignorant and incorrect meaning a misinterpretation of the facts.
I believe in Karma....what you give is what you get returned........
Affirmation........Savage Garden
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marc
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Needs to get a life! |
Registered: March 2003
Messages: 4729
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Brian1407a wrote:
> I dont think its a point of view so much as the religious fundimentalist use the bible and religion to justify being bigots and raciest. I think being wrong is just flat out being ignorant and incorrect meaning a misinterpretation of the facts.
But who's facts?
Different points of view spawn various opinion... Various opinion thus must be a product of "facts" interpreted in various ways.
Does this annomaly constitute a validation (or for that matter an invalidation) of any particular point of view?
Life is great for me... Most of the time... But then I meet people online... Very few are real friends... Many say they are but know nothing of what it means... Some say they are, but are so shallow...
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cossie
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On fire! |
Location: Exiled in North East Engl...
Registered: July 2003
Messages: 1699
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First of all, I should make it abundantly clear that I fully support the Gay Pride events previously held in Jerusalem.
This, however, is an international festival, and I think the parameters are rather different. Looking at the situation with a detached eye, I would think that primary objective should be to secure a positive international press response by holding a thoroughly successful, enjoyable and well-supported series of events. I don't see it as an appropriate time for 'in your face' politics.
When it comes to asserting the rights of the gay community in Jerusalem, it's fine for the community itself - or indeed the wider gay community within Israel - to organise Gay Pride events. But to take a World Event to Jerusalem is fairly blatantly provocative. I thought the same about the previous event in Rome; to have chosen a more 'neutral' European city would in no way have diminished the positive aspects of the festival. I don't think that our cause derived any significant benefit from the obvious attempt to enrage the Roman Catholic establishment.
There is a gulf between the gay community and the fundamentalist religions. We have our view (to which I fully subscribe!) but, as Marc comments below, they are equally deeply committed to their very different views. We aren't going to change those views in the foreseeable future. If gender equality is to be advanced, it will be done by advancing in the middle ground, not by attacking our strongest opponents.
We don't like the homophobic attitudes of Republican America, but I don't think that our cause is dignified by being equally provocative. 'In your face' gestures do not win friends; for example, the Orange Parades in Northern Ireland did nothing but increase support for the Republican cause. There's an element of Fred Phelps about being deliberately provocative - and surely that's a nausea-inducing thought!
So I come to the conclusion that the cause of gender equality world wide would have been better served by holding the festival in Tel Aviv. The rights of the gay community in Jerusalem are obviously very important, but should World Pride be addressing a purely domestic issue?
Of course, there is no right answer to a question such as this. I am simply adopting my customary stance as a militant moderate!
For a' that an' a' that,
It's comin' yet for a' that,
That man tae man, the worrld o'er
Shall brithers be, for a' that.
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marc
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Needs to get a life! |
Registered: March 2003
Messages: 4729
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The most difficuld decisions are the ones that realy have no pure answers.
At this point in time the question of where to hold the event is moot.
The question now should be whether there will be more positive effect or more fallout to dodge after the event closes???
I think it is a matter of hoping for the best but expect the worse.... At least that way we will be prepared for either scenerio....
Life is great for me... Most of the time... But then I meet people online... Very few are real friends... Many say they are but know nothing of what it means... Some say they are, but are so shallow...
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cossie
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On fire! |
Location: Exiled in North East Engl...
Registered: July 2003
Messages: 1699
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... and it's certainly true that the scriptures (Christian or otherwise) can be interpreted in various different ways; even the most liberal scholars would acknowledge that.
What singles out the fundamentalists, however, is their selective vision; they stoutly condemn homosexuals on the strength of a few Biblical references, some of which are pretty ambiguous, but they ignore the bits they don't want to think about - the abominable shellfish, for example, or the exhortation that unruly sons should be stoned.
When it comes to validation, I'm not really concerned to push my views down anyone else's throat, so long as they are prepared to live and let live. It's having fundamentalist views rammed down my throat that gets up my nose - if you'll forgive the strange turn of phrase!
For a' that an' a' that,
It's comin' yet for a' that,
That man tae man, the worrld o'er
Shall brithers be, for a' that.
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marc
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Needs to get a life! |
Registered: March 2003
Messages: 4729
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cossie wrote:
> ... and it's certainly true that the scriptures (Christian or otherwise) can be interpreted in various different ways; even the most liberal scholars would acknowledge that.
>
> What singles out the fundamentalists, however, is their selective vision; they stoutly condemn homosexuals on the strength of a few Biblical references, some of which are pretty ambiguous, but they ignore the bits they don't want to think about - the abominable shellfish, for example, or the exhortation that unruly sons should be stoned.
True, but to be fair, they condemn everyone that does not follow their doctrine. We are just at the forfront at the moment because we are fashionably convienent to their ire. We could just as easily be purple headed pizza eaters as long as the battle furthers their goals.
>
> When it comes to validation, I'm not really concerned to push my views down anyone else's throat, so long as they are prepared to live and let live. It's having fundamentalist views rammed down my throat that gets up my nose - if you'll forgive the strange turn of phrase!
Down the throat and up the nose..... Now there is a sight I havent seen in a few years....
Oh my..... did I say that????????????
Life is great for me... Most of the time... But then I meet people online... Very few are real friends... Many say they are but know nothing of what it means... Some say they are, but are so shallow...
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cossie
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On fire! |
Location: Exiled in North East Engl...
Registered: July 2003
Messages: 1699
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... and I fell of my chair laughing at the picture you conjured up!
For a' that an' a' that,
It's comin' yet for a' that,
That man tae man, the worrld o'er
Shall brithers be, for a' that.
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Jedediah
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Likes it here |
Location: Made in NZ
Registered: March 2006
Messages: 170
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Me too! And, i like the bit about stoning unruly sons - can you do that?
Cheers
E Te Atua tukuna mai ki au te Mauri tauki te tango i nga mea
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cossie wrote:
> .... or the exhortation that unruly sons should be stoned.
I believe you are supposed to smite an unruly son (method to be determined). Stoning is reserved for your neighbor who works on the sabath. 
(\\__/) And if you don't believe The sun will rise
(='.'=) Stand alone and greet The coming night
(")_(") In the last remaining light. (C. Cornell)
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Oh yes Cossie I really agree with you on this. Although I don't think it is really normal for a man to be attracted to a man or woman to a woman I don't think it is something that condemns anyone. I cannot speak for most, but I would venture to say that as a group most would not choose to be gay and no matter what the cause of the attractions, I don't see anywhere in what Christ said that condemned it.
I always come back to where Christ wanted to visit the leper colony and his deciples told him that He should not do that as those people were being punished by God. I guess they kind of forgot who it was they were talking to at the time! Christianity is supposed to be about love and forgiveness and a lot of what I see is the opposite but it does not mean that being Christian is all wrong either.
I know I get into some arguements here that when I propose my side of things it makes me look like I am the same as some of those fundamentalists, but believe me, I am not. I know that Brian has been subjected to soem verbal abuse by his relatives that would probably have me in a war with them if I had been present. Every time that sort of thing happens to someone, it can make it seem as though God is something evil and that religion is all wrong. It is the people in the religion and not the religion that is wrong when those sort of things happen.
In any case, even if I dont agree with a lot of what is said about couples who are gay getting married, I would never stand in their way. I would hope that no matter what we end up calling all the unions of couples, that they all be given equal weight and rights by the state(s). Anything less is just not right. I will never see a same sex union as being the same as a marriage between a man and woman, but that is my problem and hopefully restricted to the making of a religious ceremony. Hopefully if full equality comes to all the unions there will still be some respect to what a lot of people consider a sacrament in their church.
Ken
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Durn, I need to stay away from smitters and stone pits.
I believe in Karma....what you give is what you get returned........
Affirmation........Savage Garden
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