You know it is so true that we live in two Americas as John Edwards observed. In our world, we homos live in two gay Americas, too, and we react differently to many things - this year's cancellation of Pridefest for one.
Some of you homos ask "who needs Pridefest?" I say, we do. We fucking sure do.
I am still trying to wrap my head around the cold, hard fact that the Pridefest is cancelled this year - the mayor's office (CAU) denied the HOP's application, and as if that ain't bad enough, the guys at the HOP (angry at CAU) decided to call the whole thing off! And just like that Pridefest is gone!
We need Pridefest regardless of wether your stupid grandmother told you the celebration has lost its luster or its outrageousness.
Some of you even dare to ask if we could tone down the outrageousness of the Pride or skip it entirely. Here's what you need to understand: we squabble about the meaning of the celebration for years now since 1970, and we've been fighting for equality. We fight for Pride. We fight for its meaning. We put meaning to the celebration when others don't see the point and don't care.
Who need Pridefest? We do. We not only need Pridefest we need to know what it should really mean or ought to mean. God knows we fight so hard to be accepted and to be heard in our community and around the world. And HOP should have been more considerate and not acted on its own since it needs our support.
What do we've gotta do to be loved and to be heard? What will happen when it's all over? Sorry may seems to be the hardest word but we will be sorry...and we will regret when it's all over.
We have to continue to stop those (including HOP) who want to rain on our parade. And we definitely need to remind ourselves (and HOP) again and again what our fragile and vulnerable community stands for. We need to know who we are (are we really proud?) and what we really want (do we fucking know what we want?) for the community.
Okay, okay, parades bore some of us. They are loud and all...but they are organized every year for many reasons - they are organized in the last 15 years to remind all of us that we ought to always be proud of who we are.
To cancel PrideFest (or propose to skip it or tone it down) is completely a disrespectful act. So the CAU denied our application. So what? But to cancel it after 15 years? Okay, fine, the venue is no longer conducive, so let's just cancel it. Common queers! You gotta do better than that if you really want to know what it really means to be proud. I am definitely not proud of your stupid action.
For us who are proud (and not selfish), the experience of the last Pridefest was good. No longer an onlooker, we focus on the meanings of it and search for the meaning of being gay in two Americas.
Our eyes focus on a wider range of events this month, many with a charitable bent, hoping someday Pridefest will be celebrated everyday in everyway. Chelsea or not.
Today we still depend on a few assholes (who tend to give up when the tough gets going or when the going gets tough) and who aren't putting their best foot forward to organize it for us.
Some of you homos ask "who needs Pridefest?" I say, we do. We fucking sure do.
I am still trying to wrap my head around the cold, hard fact that the Pridefest is cancelled this year - the mayor's office (CAU) denied the HOP's application, and as if that ain't bad enough, the guys at the HOP (angry at CAU) decided to call the whole thing off! And just like that Pridefest is gone!
We need Pridefest regardless of wether your stupid grandmother told you the celebration has lost its luster or its outrageousness.
Some of you even dare to ask if we could tone down the outrageousness of the Pride or skip it entirely. Here's what you need to understand: we squabble about the meaning of the celebration for years now since 1970, and we've been fighting for equality. We fight for Pride. We fight for its meaning. We put meaning to the celebration when others don't see the point and don't care.
Who need Pridefest? We do. We not only need Pridefest we need to know what it should really mean or ought to mean. God knows we fight so hard to be accepted and to be heard in our community and around the world. And HOP should have been more considerate and not acted on its own since it needs our support.
What do we've gotta do to be loved and to be heard? What will happen when it's all over? Sorry may seems to be the hardest word but we will be sorry...and we will regret when it's all over.
We have to continue to stop those (including HOP) who want to rain on our parade. And we definitely need to remind ourselves (and HOP) again and again what our fragile and vulnerable community stands for. We need to know who we are (are we really proud?) and what we really want (do we fucking know what we want?) for the community.
Okay, okay, parades bore some of us. They are loud and all...but they are organized every year for many reasons - they are organized in the last 15 years to remind all of us that we ought to always be proud of who we are.
To cancel PrideFest (or propose to skip it or tone it down) is completely a disrespectful act. So the CAU denied our application. So what? But to cancel it after 15 years? Okay, fine, the venue is no longer conducive, so let's just cancel it. Common queers! You gotta do better than that if you really want to know what it really means to be proud. I am definitely not proud of your stupid action.
For us who are proud (and not selfish), the experience of the last Pridefest was good. No longer an onlooker, we focus on the meanings of it and search for the meaning of being gay in two Americas.
Our eyes focus on a wider range of events this month, many with a charitable bent, hoping someday Pridefest will be celebrated everyday in everyway. Chelsea or not.
Today we still depend on a few assholes (who tend to give up when the tough gets going or when the going gets tough) and who aren't putting their best foot forward to organize it for us.