Gay Days at Disney World...

[TonyAndonuts]

So I came across this very right winged article about gay pride parades at Disney World and how they're evil and disgraceful and how they dread the day every year. I wanted to just shrug it off and forget about it, but it got me thinking and its bugging me and I need to talk about it with someone. Basically, is a gay pride parade at Disney okay or is it bad?

I've said before that I think it's perfectly fine to celebrate what you are and express your pride for it. I disagree with the notion that the LGBT just needs to keep quiet and stop shoving their "gay agenda" down people's throats. If people like Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr. didn't speak up and African Americans didn't express their pride all those years ago, we wouldn't be where we are now. We have Black History Month and I don't see people complaining about that like so many complain about gay pride events. But...is it okay to celebrate gay pride at Disney? Personally, I think it's fine if they did it in a respectable and PG manor. People worry about exposing that kind of stuff to their children, but I think it's fine. I feel it's important to educate them and let them know that homosexuality is nothing to be ashamed of or fear. Teach them to love and accept anyone no matter who they are.

BUT, do gay pride parades generally celebrate in a respectable and PG manor? I don't know because I've never been to one. But if it is filled with people walking around shirtless, wearing thongs, and frenching each other where everyone can see, then I can see why people would be concerned, especially at Disney World. Because that's just inappropriate behavior no matter what your sexuality is. But I don't know if Gay Days at Disney World are like that or not. Are people rightfully concerned or are they just homophobes making a big deal out of very little?

[Bowyn Aerrow]

Just Google it

Gay Pride Parade and look at the images: https://www.google.com/search?q=gay+prid...23&bih=709

At least at Disneyland they are all wearing shirts: https://www.google.com/search?q=gay+day+...23&bih=709

^^^ Mostly.....

My personal take on Gay Pride and Disney Gay, erm, Day....

Both are unneeded and both are damaging our ideology that we are 'normal' and want to be treated as 'normal'.

Back when Disney open its doors to one day of the Rainbow it was a big positive push, a show of solidarity during a time when gays actually needed some Big Corporations and all powerful voices to speak on our behalf. Today with all of the wins we have, with LGBT in America in a safe and cozy spot, with full service in the military, with 18 states with gay marriage, 32 with some form of civil union/domestic partnership and even with the damned IRS openly accepting Gay marriage in joint filing tax returns: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/natio...s/2728927/

It is clear the LGBT have won this war. Sure it may take another decade before the Fed passes a law to force gay marriage down the throats of those states that oppose interracial marriage - erm, oops, I meant gay marriage.... But its coming, as sure as the will rise tomorrow.

And it is following a highly similar path as the acceptance of interracial marriage, thus with the IRS now throwing its hat into the ring we can be certain that the FED will jump in any time soon to force gay marriage on those hold out states.

Most states have some form of anti-hate crime laws - special laws that make it a crime to kill a person who is gay since clearly the act of murder just isn't crime enough.

In the 20th Century Gay Pride Days served a purpose. Now they are just annoying and send a far different message - not the one where we are trying to convince the majority that we are 'normal' and want what everyone else wants, but that we are somehow better than everyone else and deserve our own special day at Disneyland, and to be allowed to bring our brand of depravity to the streets at least once a year (Go look at the Google images for Gay Pride for a clue).

LGBT have gone from asking for equal protection and equal treatment to demanding special rights and special treatment. This needs to end now.

[southbiochem]

I would replace gay parades with gay marches towards every capital to demand what's rigthfully ours: "leave us be, live and let live"..

it's not too much to ask

[Ekwarph]

Both are unneeded and both are damaging our ideology that we are 'normal' and want to be treated as 'normal'.

My first gay pride, I was 18 and it was where I realized that gays were not all dragqueens with plums sticked in the ass. Some, far from being a majority, were, and it was actually very fun to see them. The problem was all the media that only talk about them...
Anyway, my first gay pride has really helped me in my acceptation today.

Otherwise, whatever we say, gay prides still serve gay people, since whatever we can say about the gay right progressions, the fight is not won yet and politicians hear the message during the Gay Pride and it reminds we're still here. It is enough to have a far right or too conservative government and all the work done in the 70's is spoilt.
I don't know how it is elsewhere, but in Paris, each year, the Gay Pride has a slogan which is in fact a political message.

However you're right, it's more something festive today, but it's very nice, it's like "come as you are" and everybody have a great time (LGBT but also straight people). I also don't like the fact companies take benefits of this moment to make advertizings on their products...gays are the perfect commercial target I know but still...

Anyways, without gaypride, gay people would only have to hide themselves and to melt in the mass. Is it satisfying? I am not sure though. In the US and in most part of EU, we don't have to complain...but is it stable? I'm not sure though.

[MisterTinkles]

Its a bad deal all the way around.

Promotes negativity, stereotyping, and that "gay" is somehow better and more special than other people. Plus, its a sales gimmick for Disney. Disney has NO interest in "gays", all they want is the extra money from all the publicity/ticket sales. As soon as "gay" isnt "the thing" anymore, they will drop it like yesterdays garbage.

And all these protesters (which is what "parade people" are), do nothing but enforce all the negative, hateful, condescending attitudes the rest of the world have on us.

I dont mind if someone has a belief or their own ethics, but I DONT want it SHOVED IN MY FACE!!
You will get nothing but contempt, anger, and a LOT of cuss words from me!!!!


I am NOT a promotional gimmick to be used and abused for "gay" or large corporations!
I find it offensive and degrading that these douchebag protesters think its ok for THEM to drag the rest of us down to that level of insecurity, shallowness, and over self-importance! I dont blame others for despising them....I do too.




They have "gay day" at the Six Flags Over Texas here once a year, but its not a media thing and not a sanctioned event. Its just a self appointed day where all the gays go to SFOT.

[Woollyhats]

Err, if they don't want to go to a gay day, then they don't have to go?


Imagine not participating in an event you don't like

Anyway, as BA showed in his pictures, they're basically PG at Disney land, just another activity people can choose to participate in.

And besides, since pride prades are basically mardi gras for gay people, and since obviously this 'gay day' doesn't really compare to gay pride parades in anyway way, maybe we could stop comparing them. In addition, they aren't official and are organised by gay people and their families so short of banning them there's not a lot Disneyland can do. Disney's reaction is basically, "They are customers just like everyone else, and that's how we're treating them", and this is why right wing groups are so upset.

I repeat, Disney's official response to groups of gay people was to simply treat them like customers. The utter horror.

Anyway, more information on Gay Days is here,
http://www.gaydaysanaheim.com/ (page organising event)
http://content.time.com/time/magazine/ar...-1,00.html (basic information)
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/features/...37033.post (ridiculous response from conservatives, which includes spending $16 000 to be flying around in a plane waving a flag that literally warns of the presence of gays.)

At the end of the day though, I'm just not seeing the evil, sorry,


Seen here: A controversial issue, and incidentally, why we suck as a species.

[TonyAndonuts]

^ Well if they're not running around wearing rainbow thongs, then yeah, I don't see a problem either. Really, I don't see gay pride events as attention seeking and wanting to be treated special. And I disagree with the idea that it's unnecessary just because we've already come a long way. By that logic, we should've gotten rid of Black History Month a long time ago. Keep the blacks from thinking they're special and we've already gotten rid of slavery and Jim Crow, that's good enough, we don't need a month long event shoving black pride down people's throats anymore, right? Well, I personally think it's just a way to celebrate how far we have come and to never forget where we used to be. These things are lessons that should never be forgotten, or history will repeat itself.

[Bowyn Aerrow]

^^ Well actually.... Oh wait I can't dare go there, it would be so unpolitically correct for me to suggest that no race deserves a whole month to themselves.

But I can go there over the gay thing because I are one. And I say no more gay days, no more gay 'pride' days and all of that other rot - we are all human. As long as we continue drawing these stupid lines - negatively or positively, there are going to be lots of problems.

[matty7]

would you get on the rides quicker showing a pink badge ??

[Lilitu]

That sounds like a good idea, in theory. I've only been to Disneyland once, and it was the tiniest one - the Hong Kong one, but from what I remember, it's pretty big and diverse, and main street USA seems like a perfect venue for something like that.

It's not as hard as we might think to desexualise a parade to the extent that it's appropriate for a family-orientated park. Also, if the event would go on, the day would probably attract older visitors, rather than children.

Things like this often go overmanaged and underexecuted; I've seen too much of this happening in my community and in projects I've been involved in.. I hope if it goes ahead, they'll try to pass over trivial things, and just get on with it. It's really not as big a deal as a lot of people think. Base line is that disneyland is a venue, and there is an event held.