Originally Posted by VamPyroX

I agree with you. It's not only the GLBT pride that bothers me, but the other cultural prides such as African Americans, Asians, Latino Americans, women, deaf, etc...

At NTID, there are some people who take "Deaf Pride" too far that it pisses off or ruin reputations. I'm hard-of-hearing and I can speak orally for myself, but it was a challenge in some of my classes since some classmates were uncomfortable working with me. It turned out that their previous deaf classmates were rude and demonstrated too much "deaf pride". Those deaf students would refuse to cooperate with these hearing students cuz they were hearing and didn't know what it's like to be deaf. They would keep whining to the interpreter that they weren't getting enough attention from the hearing students and felt that the hearing students were discriminating them. Etc, etc. This happened so much to these hearing classmates that when they came to me, they were very uncomfortable with working with me. It took me a few weeks to get them to realize that I wasn't like those other "Deaf Pride" extremists.

Back to the GLBT pride, the same applies. I have a friend who loves rainbows, but people tease her about her sexuality and assume she's a lesbian. Rainbows are something she likes and shouldn't be interfered with by others. When she asked others why they thought she was a lesbian, their response was that every time they see a rainbow-related product, it's always by a GLBT person and that GLBT are always boasting rainbow as only a GLBT thing. Because of that, she gets a bit uncomfortable being around GLBT because they're ruining her way of life.

Originally Posted by InTheGenes

VamPyroX, you might consider examining just why this bothers you so much. On the surface, it seems irrational and petty.

Our nation is chock FULL of people who express personal pride in their everyday lives... whether they're wearing t-shirts proclaiming their support for a particular political candidate (or party), sporting bumper stickers to that effect, putting signs up in their yard (or apartment windows) proclaiming their support... to people with the "Christian fish" symbol or "What Would Jesus Do?" bumper stickers on their vehicles, to anti (and pro) abortion bumper stickers, to "My Child is an Honor Roll student at XYZ High School" bumper stickers, to "I Love My Pet Schnauzer" bumper stickers, to Italian-Americans wearing t-shirts proclaiming "Italians Do It Better", to "Kiss Me, I'm Irish" sweatshirts, etc.

Get the point? While it's QUITE obvious that some foes of the homosexual community in our country (yourself included?) would seem to want to "keep gays in their place" by inhibiting their ability to have pride in who they are, I'm sorry to tell them (and you) that there's such a thing in this country as freedom of speech, which is the concept of the inherent human right to voice one's opinion publicly without fear of censorship or punishment.

The First Amendment to the United States Constitution says that Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of "speech." Note that the document uses the word "speech," although a long succession of court decisions has expanded this concept far beyond ordinary verbal communication. Protected expression now includes such non-verbal expression as wearing a symbol on one's clothing, dance movements, and a silent candlelight vigil.

My question to you is: why is that form of expression any more threatening to you that any of the ones I mentioned above? Why are gays and lesbians any less deserving of that basic human right that is the birthright of every other citizen of this nation?

If the parades bother you, don't watch them. But that's the simple solution. Getting to the root of just WHY it bothers you so much is likely a more difficult journey of self-discovery. Well, take it from someone who knows: self-discovery is oftentimes not easy, but it's worth it.