Gay Pride!

ddef

Hey all!
Just wondering if anybody else here was in the parade today?
It was my first time in one and have to say the atmosphere of the LGBT community was amazing. What I was also happy to see was the general public seemed to be enjoying the parade and not condemning it.
I am straight myself, but i was there to support a mate who recently came out and what made my day was seeing him comfortable with other gay lads in the parade.
So was anybody else there and what are your opinions on the festival as a whole?

baby and crumble

I wasn't there today, but I just read this and have to say one thing- you seem like a great friend.

foggy_lad

I don't believe in this kind of thing as it only sets people apart from the rest of society which is ok if you consider yourself so different you need your own little gay world to live in but is not great if you want to be accepted as being as "normal" as the next guy/gal.

But the whole gay pride march day out etc is great fun and well enjoyed by all that participate.

jaffa20

foggy_lad wrote: »

I don't believe in this kind of thing as it only sets people apart from the rest of society which is ok if you consider yourself so different you need your own little gay world to live in but is not great if you want to be accepted as being as "normal" as the next guy/gal.

But the whole gay pride march day out etc is great fun and well enjoyed by all that participate.

+1

I heard someone on the radio talking about the parade and said it's a great way of showing everyone that we're normal and just like everyone else. lol

Plautus

Lads ... not to put too fine a point on it, but Pride parades aren't intended to be grandiloquent displays of prescriptive normality like, I dunno, a fecking Corpus Christi procession?

It veers a little close to the (frankly, obsessive) harping on of Brenda Power about queers walking around with their arses hanging out of their trousers to be inferring that Pride is setting back the gay rights movement somehow. If it's offensive to some people, or if it's generating the response of 'deviant fruits' in some minds then those perhaps aren't people that can be sold the message of tolerance too easily.

Fact is that it was for too long that the only public display of homosexuality was within the context and confines of the criminal justice system. Be that the Bishop of Lismore being hanged in the 16th century for his homosexual dalliance or Oscar Wilde's conviction for buggery in 1896. That was normality for the better part of a millennium. Normality confers no legitimacy - it is merely descriptive (i.e. it is generally done, but then so was rejecting tenants who were Irish in 18th century Pennsylvania.)

If you want, it'd be more productive to see this as an attempt to write a positive narrative: hey, we're a people here with a shared identity and camaraderie that was built up through oppression and being forced underground but now we're able to walk about without fear of reproach, scandal or sanction.

Fact is that we are different; but there's no bad moral quantity that's readily explicable as a result of being different. Irish people are different too, that's why they celebrate their nationality on St. Paddy's Day. It's not supposed to vouch a place for you in the humdrum, it is exceptional (but don't construe that to mean superiority, of course.) You are drawing attention to yourself. It's a fecking celebration, it wouldn't be much of one if you didn't!

Dwn Wth Vwls

The Garda estimate was 22,000 people marching and 100,000 people watching. The percentage of people who were dressed "provocatively" seemed very very small to me. Everywhere you looked it was just people looking normal, so I think the idea of Pride being nothing but guys in short shorts and dresses is a bit outdated.

spurious

I was there marching with the teachers.

I'm sure those who have been killed by homophobic scum over the years would have liked to have had the chance to be there and I marched to let those homophobic bigots know we're not going away.

I don't set myself apart from society. A society that says I cannot marry and I could lose my job because of who I choose to sleep with (good old section 37) sets me apart.

PeterIanStaker

I hope there were no Coir, catholofascist, Joe Duffy appreciation society assholes there protesting.

L1011

Didn't see any, if there were they were outnumbered by a massive margin.

AvaKinder

Didn't see anyone protesting against the Parade myself. I had heard Friday night that some groups had applied for a permit to stage a demonstration and been denied.


I love the parade, and was lucky enough to have three of my straight friends marching alongside me. More came out in the evening.


I think until everyone has equal rights then marches to demonstrate pride in your sexuality, gender, race, nationality etc are an important tool for community building.

I'm not on the scene, or someone who would even know many other LGBT people (although thats starting to change) but I've always gone out for Pride because I think the sense of inclusiveness and togetherness that surrounds the day is great.

gibson

I walked in the parade with a friends it was good fun but thought the party in the park was a lod of sh*t! Much better a few years ago when I went last. Some of the drag queen "singers" were terrible and the woman with the keyboard dear lord! :rolleyes:

the best bit was drinking on the hill and having a good time in the sun!

JackBrgs

PeterIanStaker wrote: »

I hope there were no Coir ... there protesting.

We heard there would be a counter protest but I didn't see any evidence of any. I was with Open FM.

gibson

JackBrgs wrote: »

We heard there would be a counter protest but I didn't see any evidence of any. I was with Open FM.

Didnt see anything like that, everyone seemed very well behaved...bar one little fight on the hill which was really just handbags

Effects

I had a great time. Already heard people complaining about the fact that there's no need to have a parade to celebrate that you're gay. I doubt the same people would feel the same if they were told there's no reason to have a St. Patricks day parade to celebrate beinf Irish. I was a bit annoyed with the state people left the park in though, with bottles, cans and rubbish everywhere.
I put some photos up from the day: Pride

deirdre_dub

JackBrgs wrote: »

We heard there would be a counter protest but I didn't see any evidence of any.

I was at the top of the parade - with TENI - right behind Lydia. I did see a protest at the southern end of O'Connell Bridge denouncing civil partnership - but it seemed to be just one person.

However, on O'Connell Street, a guy walked in amongst us and started giving out yards about gays. One of the stewards informed the Guards, who quickly took him out of the parade, made him empty his pockets, searched him, took his details etc etc etc

rainbow kirby

deirdre_dub wrote: »

I was at the top of the parade - with TENI - right behind Lydia.

Was talking to a few TENI people in Nealon's after the parade on Saturday actually - small world! :pac:

Links234

I really should go next year. It sounds like everyone had a great time

rere

I marched for the first time this year, it was a last second decision but very glad I did it.
Probably the best part of it was seeing the huge amount of people that had brought their families to watch. It really made me feel that even if the government aren't very supportive, at least a lot of the people are.

AvaKinder

My favourite thing about Pride is seeing families together on the day

foggy_lad

Plautus wrote: »

Lads ... not to put too fine a point on it, but Pride parades aren't intended to be grandiloquent displays of prescriptive normality like, I dunno, a fecking Corpus Christi procession?

no need to bring religion into it but i would not see any need for these parades either.

It veers a little close to the (frankly, obsessive) harping on of Brenda Power about queers walking around with their arses hanging out of their trousers to be inferring that Pride is setting back the gay rights movement somehow. If it's offensive to some people, or if it's generating the response of 'deviant fruits' in some minds then those perhaps aren't people that can be sold the message of tolerance too easily.

i am very tolerant of those that are respectful of their surroundings and society but those on any pride parade i have witnessed are all about what they want rather than any contribution they may want to be making.

Fact is that it was for too long that the only public display of homosexuality was within the context and confines of the criminal justice system. Be that the Bishop of Lismore being hanged in the 16th century for his homosexual dalliance or Oscar Wilde's conviction for buggery in 1896. That was normality for the better part of a millennium. Normality confers no legitimacy - it is merely descriptive (i.e. it is generally done, but then so was rejecting tenants who were Irish in 18th century Pennsylvania.)

the year is 2010 not 1810 or 1910! but if we should march to remember the fallen martyrs of the movement then surely the IRA has a legitimate place in irish society as keepers of the republican faith and to remind us at bodenstown every year of republican fallen martyrs?

If you want, it'd be more productive to see this as an attempt to write a positive narrative: hey, we're a people here with a shared identity and camaraderie that was built up through oppression and being forced underground but now we're able to walk about without fear of reproach, scandal or sanction.

like queer vigilantes?

Fact is that we are different; but there's no bad moral quantity that's readily explicable as a result of being different. Irish people are different too, that's why they celebrate their nationality on St. Paddy's Day. It's not supposed to vouch a place for you in the humdrum, it is exceptional (but don't construe that to mean superiority, of course.) You are drawing attention to yourself. It's a fecking celebration, it wouldn't be much of one if you didn't!

of course it is a celebration and very much enjoyed by everyone that attends/takes part but i dont see the need most gay people have to stick it up the noses of others who are quite plainly not a bit interested or even offended!

if i want to be considered normal i will not go out setting myself apart from others and showing the world how different i see myself being and in doing so alienating myself from society.
i am normal as the next person, i get up in the morning and do relatively normal things

Links234

foggy_lad wrote: »

if i want to be considered normal i will not go out setting myself apart from others and showing the world how different i see myself being and in doing so alienating myself from society.
i am normal as the next person, i get up in the morning and do relatively normal things

Nobody is normal, everyone is different.

deirdre_dub

foggy_lad wrote: »

i will not go out setting myself apart from others and showing the world how different i see myself being

So you wouldn't attend a St. Patrick's Day parade either? It shows you as being different to people who aren't Irish, after all. The same could be said of book clubs, Star Trek conventions, ...

and in doing so alienating myself from society.

So you should only show those parts of your identity that society finds acceptable?

SugarHigh

Effects wrote: »

I had a great time. Already heard people complaining about the fact that there's no need to have a parade to celebrate that you're gay. I doubt the same people would feel the same if they were told there's no reason to have a St. Patricks day parade to celebrate beinf Irish. I was a bit annoyed with the state people left the park in though, with bottles, cans and rubbish everywhere.
I put some photos up from the day: Pride

The realisation that these two people were the same person was not a good experience.:eek:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8661925@N05/4740325980/in/set-72157624371520702/


http://www.flickr.com/photos/8661925@N05/4739692115/in/set-72157624371520702/

Eebs

That comic is brilliant. I love it.

xxlily87xx

saturday was my first time ever goin to pride, i marched in the parade, didn bother with the park went to the george instead. Had the best time ever and cant wait til next years pride. I was talkin to two gaurds saturday mornin who were tellin me that they heard there would be a few protesters out but thankfully i didn see any, anyway the gaurds told me that they were behind us anyway and we shouldn be disrupted that they would be dealing wit protesters, which i thought was nice of them, they were very nice men and wished me a good pride.

LookingFor

foggy_lad wrote: »

i am very tolerant of those that are respectful of their surroundings and society but those on any pride parade i have witnessed are all about what they want rather than any contribution they may want to be making.

Puzzling.

You do know the people who organise and partake in this are doing it completely off their own back, completely voluntarily? You do know that in some cases it requires a lot of work and dedication?

You do realise they do it, partially at least, to help reach out to other gay people who are less comfortable or who for one reason or another cannot be open and 'free'?

You do realise that the protest aspects of pride are aimed at forwarding the interests of larger groups of people than just themselves? I'm somewhat ashamed to say that I have often left 'others' to do the protesting on my behalf. In doing so, however, I have to acknowledge the debt of gratitude that I owe to everyone who does get up off their arse and care enough to go out and shout about something. If everyone was like me, nothing around equality would ever have changed for gay people.

I remember growing up, it always encouraged me to see pride reported in papers. By putting themselves out there, the people in these parades helped remind me I wasn't alone. Even if, at the time, I found myself slightly embarrassed that it was the drag queens and most flamboyant participants who were photographed...which led me to, for a time, question if the Pride parade was good for gay people, or if it was reinforcing stereotypes. And for some time I was one of those gay people who was 'ashamed' of the image being projected through the media. But then I grew up, I attended pride, I got to know people involved and see things first hand, and I started to understand the roots of Pride and the culture therein. I realised that 90% of the people taking part in pride were actually, as you might say, 'normal' people. But I also realised that to complain about drag queens at pride was to completely misunderstand its history. But I digress..

foggy_lad wrote: »

the year is 2010 not 1810 or 1910! but if we should march to remember the fallen martyrs of the movement then surely the IRA has a legitimate place in irish society as keepers of the republican faith and to remind us at bodenstown every year of republican fallen martyrs?

Talk about apples and oranges.

foggy_lad wrote: »

like queer vigilantes?

of course it is a celebration and very much enjoyed by everyone that attends/takes part but i dont see the need most gay people have to stick it up the noses of others who are quite plainly not a bit interested or even offended!

if i want to be considered normal i will not go out setting myself apart from others and showing the world how different i see myself being and in doing so alienating myself from society.

i am normal as the next person, i get up in the morning and do relatively normal things

Very funny stuff.

We all self-identify with various different groups that each set us apart in some way from others who are not in said group. But you've just validated why Pride is necessary, by suggesting that to self-identify as gay, publicly and to celebrate that as a group is something people ought to avoid and be ashamed of. As long as that attitude exists it only adds weight to the necessity for Pride, so that the gay community can express not just to 'you' but primarily to other gay people that there is nothing to be ashamed of.

markw999

deirdre_dub wrote: »

I was at the top of the parade - with TENI - right behind Lydia. I did see a protest at the southern end of O'Connell Bridge denouncing civil partnership - but it seemed to be just one person.

However, on O'Connell Street, a guy walked in amongst us and started giving out yards about gays. One of the stewards informed the Guards, who quickly took him out of the parade, made him empty his pockets, searched him, took his details etc etc etc

I was marching with TENI too, but missed that. However, a friend of mine did say one guy was throwing eggs, and one whizzed by her head. But apart from that, there was no protest, which was great.

Annasopra

I think I would have actually liked a protest so that our crowd could have drowned them out

Plautus

foggy_lad wrote: »

i am very tolerant of those that are respectful of their surroundings and society but those on any pride parade i have witnessed are all about what they want rather than any contribution they may want to be making.

Yeah, pride is about what its participants want: equal rights, a day in the sun, a statement that they're here and find joy in their sexuality ... what are you trying to get at? It's going to be about the people in the parade at points ... it's their parade.

the year is 2010 not 1810 or 1910! but if we should march to remember the fallen martyrs of the movement then surely the IRA has a legitimate place in irish society as keepers of the republican faith and to remind us at bodenstown every year of republican fallen martyrs?

:S Because gay persecution has completely disappeared, hasn't it, and because those who were persecuted on the grounds of their sexuality are just like those who took up arms against the British Crown.

And the problem with the IRA staging those commemorations might be how they're terrorists. And given that the Irish state has succeeded to the legacy in any event.

like queer vigilantes?

What the hell? Who are they meting out vengeance against in a way that isn't in accordance with the law? Who are they beating? Who are they intimidating? Who are they killing, torturing or otherwise falsely imprisoning? Are you taking the Michael?

of course it is a celebration and very much enjoyed by everyone that attends/takes part but i dont see the need most gay people have to stick it up the noses of others who are quite plainly not a bit interested or even offended!

Gay people might like to show solidarity with each other and meet other gay people in public like the heterosexual majority can. Duh? Who could be rightly offended by it? How is it rubbing anyone's 'nose' in it if the point is legitimate? There's a right to assemble granted to us under law: you tell the suffragettes they should have stopped because they were 'rubbing people's nose in it' (and indeed, they were): that doesn't make it invalid.

Thing is that you're arguing a priori from some very tendentious bases. You can't name who is offended, if you could do that then you'd have to explain why they were offended and furthermore whether or not their grievance was legitimate; as it is you have a very poor understanding of what Pride is, you think its organisers are vigilantes (sorry, you don't even know the definition of a vigilante) and that their methods are only one degree of separation away from physical-force nationalism. Sorry, but bwuh?

if i want to be considered normal i will not go out setting myself apart from others and showing the world how different i see myself being and in doing so alienating myself from society.
i am normal as the next person, i get up in the morning and do relatively normal things

Yeah, so are most of those marching: they have families, friends, jobs, nights-out, nights-in, and you decry them as abnormal for taking one day out of the year to make a statement about the state of gay rights in this country and/or enjoy themselves?

Talking out of your hat.

Purple Lemons

Didn't have the money to travel to Dublin but attended Cork Pride with my sis and have never been so proud, she's 7 years older than me and is only out about a year.

She looked so happy and comfortable marching with her girlfriend, my mother, her gf's mother.

Im really thankful for this parade, it means alot to alot of people