Pride Flags... what are your thoughts?

[southbiochem]

I descend from Aryans.

No you don't.

Aryans are an Iranian racial group that derived into Persians, Medians, Parthians and when mixing with dravidians in pre-historic India, made up current hindu people..

Granted, they where Indoeuropean, but not "caucasian"

now, there's quite a bit of difference here

I don't remember gays starting a war that got some 50 million people killed not to mention promoting the extermination of an antire racial group

[Wade]

I'm proud to be white, I descend from Aryans. I doubt people would be too happy if I waved my pride at being Aryan and White all over the place, or wore my armband to announce to other my leanings which would make it far, far easier for me in this world of people who for some odd reason don't like National Socialism.

Out of a pure, intellectual curiosity, and I apologize if I'm too dumb to understand... are you being sincere here or facetious in order to make a point?

[Pix]

I've this friend, who is one of the very few straight male friends that I have. When I came out, I lost a lot of friends and he doesn't support gay rights and he doesn't really accept homosexuality either, but he still stayed by my side and I think he's trying to understand. One time we happened to talk about gay parades and his point was that gay people may think that with these pride parades they are making straights to accept and to think about equality, but actually we're just angering them. He was like "when you know perfectly well that most straights will not accept it and you're still going around flaunting over the whole town how much you want to be accepted, then don't cry when you're bullied or beaten up, because that is of your own doing."

Even as a gay man I can see a sense in his words.

So what are your thoughts on the suffragettes that suffered violence from both vigilantes and the state? Or their modern day equivalents in the Middle East who can be beaten if they don't wear a veil? What about the marches led by people as Martin Luther King Jr.? Or civil disobedience by Gandhi? Was all the violence and abuse they endured their own fault because they knew it would upset some people? Would the world be a better place if they never rocked the boat?

[EMH]

I love pride flags… That being said, I understand people when they say they don't want the beliefs of others shoved in their faces. But when I go to Minneapolis pride, or any pride event, I don't think of it as shoving my ideas down the throats of those who disagree. I see pride flags as symbols of, well, being proud of who we are, despite being told by those around us that we are lesser. I don't believe there is anything wrong with pride. If there can be Mardi Gras and Heritage Days, then there can be pride. But you don't have to attend if you aren't a fan.

[72jay]

I have nothing against pride flags. I even had this thing on my bedroom wall that simulated one.
I would deff never carry one around in public though, especially where I live.

But when I go to Minneapolis pride, or any pride event, I don't think of it as shoving my ideas down the throats of those who disagree.

I feel the same way about when I've gone to pride events.

[TonyAndonuts]

Pride parades, flaunting rainbow flags, and generally "shoving" our gayness onto people might make them angry. Sure. But sitting around and doing nothing sure isn't gonna get us anywhere either. I doubt we got where we are now by sitting around and twiddling our thumbs until people just randomly started thinking "Hey, y'know gay people, maybe we shouldn't treat them like crap and give them basic rights." We've come a long way now, but we're not done. The majority of the country still doesn't allow same-sex marriage. How do we move forward? Just do nothing and wait until the other states catch up? Or remind people that we're still here?

[Bowyn Aerrow]

I was being facetious in order to make a point...

To push that point, consider why it is people hate LGBT. What are some of the reasons they throw out there?

1. You are going to turn our children gay!
2. Your morals are degrading society and god is going to punish us all!

In the eyes of those people homosexuality is worse than Nazism, as least the Nazis rounded up the gays to exterminate them (Something I once heard and realized that the depth of homophobia is such that there is no cure).

The feelings that most sane people get when they see the crooked cross is what homophobes feel when the see a rainbow.

And what are we Proud of anyway? Our sexuality, thus we are shoving our sexuality down the throats of others. Aside from who we fuck, how else are we actually different than anyone else?

We ain't. This isn't like having black skin and being punished for that thus having a cultural identity to lean on. LGBT are black, white, brown, red, yellow, whatever, come from all walks of life, from every nation and creed... The only thing that unifies us is the small fact that we have strange sex and fall into a steep minority and we got beaten up for that through the years.

So yes, when we wear a rainbow flag, or wave it around, we are just pretty much flaunting the fact that we are having sex in ways heterosexuals don't.

[Sylph]

I was being facetious in order to make a point...

To push that point, consider why it is people hate LGBT. What are some of the reasons they throw out there?

1. You are going to turn our children gay!
2. Your morals are degrading society and god is going to punish us all!

In the eyes of those people homosexuality is worse than Nazism, as least the Nazis rounded up the gays to exterminate them (Something I once heard and realized that the depth of homophobia is such that there is no cure).

The feelings that most sane people get when they see the crooked cross is what homophobes feel when the see a rainbow.

And what are we Proud of anyway? Our sexuality, thus we are shoving our sexuality down the throats of others. Aside from who we fuck, how else are we actually different than anyone else?

We ain't. This isn't like having black skin and being punished for that thus having a cultural identity to lean on. LGBT are black, white, brown, red, yellow, whatever, come from all walks of life, from every nation and creed... The only thing that unifies us is the small fact that we have strange sex and fall into a steep minority and we got beaten up for that through the years.

So yes, when we wear a rainbow flag, or wave it around, we are just pretty much flaunting the fact that we are having sex in ways heterosexuals don't.

+1 for strange gay sex :hugs-and-kisses-smi

Well really, all sex is strange, so heterosexuals shouldnt have that as an excuse, but everything else I can kinda see.

I still dont think its shoving or wrong to be open and proud with your sexuality.

I mean, dont have like an interracial gay orgy on the front of a church, cause that'll really be blasphemy lolz.

But kissing, wearing/possessing something you are proud of and what not...not so much I think

[Pix]

Lots of straight people have no problem with the rainbow flag, many will sport it or an equivalent themselves, especially on FB. I wonder if the ones who have a problem with it are big fans of O'Reilly?




That's nothing, you should've seen his piece on lesbian gangs taking over America with pink pistols. There should be some "Yellow Journalist of the Year" award just so he could've won it for that (though I'm sure he'd have had many contenders to compete against). Yet he has a lot of fans...and I bet they do equate the rainbow flag with the Nazi one (and they probably operate under the delusion that the Nazis were atheists and promoted their own version of Obamacare).

[driftwood]

"Flying the flag" IS shoving your opinion down someone else s throat...
Not all flags "stand" for something, but some do stand for specific feelings and opinions, such as the Union Jack and the Rainbow Flags.
.

I guess we shouldn't fly the American flag. That might offend foreigners.

At sporting events we really shouldn't cheer when our team scores. Be considerate of the opponents fans.

Come to think of it we really shouldn't wear nice clothes. People who can't afford new clothes will get jealous.