Category: gay pride march

A gay pride march

Back on March 9 of this year, there was this story in the Times Union by Jennifer Gish titled “Humanity in ‘Laramie’: High school actors project offers lesson on more than gay tolerance”. It was about Bill Ziskin, a teacher at Schenectady High, directing his young actors in Moises Kaufman’s “The Laramie Project.” Gish writes: The play is based on interviews conducted by New York theater students with the townspeople of Laramie, Wyo., after the 1998 ultimately fatal beating of gay college student Matthew Shepard. Because of its mature nature and strong language, Ziskin did
run the idea by school administrators before going ahead with it… Today, it’s hard for some of the kids to imagine that kind of brutality. One of the actors was quoted as saying, “When they told us about it I thought it was something that happened a while ago, like the ’70s or the ’80s.”

Ah, the optimism of youth. Earlier this year, though the stories I read were about a month after the fact, a Gay California student’s slaying sparks outcry, and “Activists demand that middle schools do more to teach tolerance.” Lawrence King — Student Who Was Murdered For Being Gay — To Be Honored With National Day Of Silence. I heard there was a similar case in Florida recently like the California case cited.

As for that day of silence, in some places such Mount Si High School in Snoqualmie, WA, it was anything but, as I read this Seattle Times account Lynn Thompson. Unfortunately, I actually sort of know one of the people protesting against gay acceptance.

As New Yorkers almost surely know, the governor of the state has ordered government agencies to recognize gay marriages that were performed in states and countries where they are legal. While, for at least one of my gay blogging colleagues, marriage is not such an overriding issue, for others ,it is of paramount importance.

I note all of this as my church plans once again to participate in the gay pride parade next Sunday. that same gay blogger I know opined that the idea of a march might have been diluted by corporate interests. I think we agreed that MAYBE in locations with a large gay population, such as New York City and San Francisco, it has lost its urgency. I’m convinced, however, that it still has meaning and efficacy in places like Albany, NY.

ROG

ROG

I Love a Parade

I was very interested in Gay Prof’s piece on the gay pride march in Boston a couple of weekends ago, in part because I participated in Albany’s parade around the same time. Based on his piece and the several comments the piece generated, I’ve concluded that the Gay Pride march in the big cities (New York, San Francisco, presumably Boston), and the ones in smaller cities, such as Albany, are very different animals. The big city events, from what I read, have been co-opted by the advertisers trying to market to a niche, while our parade seemed as though it was making a statement.

Actually, I hadn’t gotten up that day planning on marching. But when I got to church, several of the members were working on the Albany Presbytery float with this cardboard Jesus in the front and a rainbow of colors decorating the float. The service had ended, the parade, which had, in previous years had taken place during the service, had not yet started, and so I joined in. there was a real sense of comradery – the AIDS activists, the PFLAG moms, the drag queens, the Presbyterians all there for civil rights, human rights.

Clearly, the crowds lining the streets were appreciative of the church taking a stand. Well, except for the one guy with a huge sign citing scripture about gaining the world and losing one’s soul. He could not have been happy about Christians, so-called in his mind, involved in such an activity.

For some reason, I’ve gotten on a mailing list of some Methodists – I used to be a Methodist – who are very disturbed by the policies of the church leadership. They actually use terms such as “gay agenda.”

On a related topic, our dysfunctional State Legislature has passed another one-house bill. Our Democratic Party-controlled state Assembly passed legislation in favor of gay marriage; the Republican-led State Senate didn’t even bring it up before they went home for a few weeks. Here’s the front cover of the paper that day. Don’t expect this to pass the State senate anytime soon.

Social media & sharing icons powered by UltimatelySocial