By Stephen Whitley, KERA 90.1 commentator
Dallas, TX – Sunday Dallas will host its annual Alan Ross Freedom Parade, better known as Gay Pride. This event, according to its sponsor The Dallas Tavern Guild, is to "present a positive image of the gay and lesbian community of Texas." However, this year, as with every year, I have to ask myself, "What exactly are we celebrating anyway? What does this Bacchanalia represent to the world about the Gay and Lesbian community?"
I understand the parade in Dallas and in other large cities in the country is a way to show the world at large that homosexuals are not ashamed of who we are, and to celebrate our diversity. When AIDS deaths were skyrocketing, marching through the streets was a way to remind those in power that we were a political force that was not going to go away. Having been to several parades in the past six years, I tend to think the original idea behind the parade has become somewhat distorted, and that now, especially in Dallas, the event is less about showing pride in who we are and more about economics.
The Dallas Tavern Guild, a consortium of bars and clubs that cater to the gay and lesbian community, does provide a lot of funding for many causes in the Gay and Lesbian community, such as Life Walk and other charities. But for all the good they do, they are also very concerned with bringing thousands of people to the strip on Cedar Springs, where the majority of gay bars and clubs are. Their website has photos from last year's parade, held just after the events of September 11. While thousands of New Yorkers were buried under the rubble of the World Trade Center, the Tavern Guild hosted a huge party and called it a parade. For me, it was a low point in a particularly anguished time. What type of image did THAT represent to Texas and the world?
As Gay men and Lesbians, we often wonder why it is so difficult for us to receive equal treatment under the law why is gay marriage not legal? Why is it in Texas and many other parts of the country, we can be fired for simply being gay? Why are our children taken away from us when the courts find out we are gay? The answers to these questions lie in the way we continue to portray ourselves to society. Much of society connects being gay with the visual representations promulgated in the media at events like Gay Pride parades. We can blame the media all we want, but if we don't provide them with better examples of who and what we are, we really have no reason to be indignant.
We think we have come so far with Gay rights, but look at popular culture's representation of gay life. "Will and Grace" features two gay characters whose identities are essentially shaped by two straight women. The "ground-breaking" cable show "Queer as Folk" about a group of gay men in Pittsburgh seems to only focus on the club scene and the sexual promiscuity of the characters not exactly a good cross representation of who we really are. The Catholic Church is rife with pedophile priests and bishops who lie to cover up their crimes, yet they blame the problem on homosexual priests and we hear nary a whimper from gay activists.
Michael Musto, a columnist from the Village Voice, writes, "I've had it with closety gay people who say we have to tone down our image to appease the homophobes." But he is ignoring the fact that in America, image is very important, and if we are to ever take our rightful place in society - if we are ever to receive equal treatment under the law - we have to work at providing better images of who we really are.