Is outspoken "gay pride" counterproductive to achieving equality?

acc fan makes a good point with the fact that gay pride is not necessarily to get heteros to accept us. It's for gays to celebrate their pride and show them that we are happy for who we are. But I think gay pride can also be productive in achieving equality. Everyone is unique and displaying our unique nature shouldn't be a bad thing. We have unique qualities just like everyone else has unique qualities. We celebrate the fact that we are different to show that being different is not a bad thing. This in a way is forcing people to come together and accept all different kinds of people.

I think it puts people who already don't believe in gay rights in a defensive position. Until they are more accepting to gay rights I think it would make sense to ease down on the "gay pride advertisement" and make the transition easier. Sometimes, even I, think that all this rainbow crap goes out of hand and seems like we are in some sort of candy land production, I feel the need to vomit from the motion sickness I get from all the moving colors from the banners and flags.

Possibly.. depends on the conversation. Those who di not understand the nature of this type of relationship may need to know the differences. Also trying to "fit" in with sameness conversations may not help.

I think that gays just need to be natural and not push agendas or lifestyles in anyone face and heteros as well. Sex should be treated with respect and as sacred. It should be secrete and not something for bragging rights.

I am not one to kiss and tell and I really resent when others tell me about who they "did" for that just shows me how low they are.

I don't agree that being proud of who we are cannot go hand-in-hand with demonstrating how we are alike. When Martin Luther King spoke up against racism and bigotry and called for the integration of Black Americans fully into society, he was not emphasizing differences.

Being proud of ourselves does not mean we think we are superior. Progress begins when you stand up, stop believing the lies that we are bad, evil, immoral, hated by God, degenerate and abnormal and begin to like ourselves as the beautiful, wonderful, children of God we are. I would never suggest that a Mexican-American, for instance, stop being proud of his/her heritage or that this pride could not coexist with his/her assimilation into mainstream American culture. We should all be proud of who we are and proud of being Americans at the same time.

It does hurt our efforts towards equality because all it does is alienate the homosexuals from heterosexuals. What we in the gay community should focus in is that we do not choose who we are attracted to and, no matter who we fall in love with, we are all human and love is a beautiful thing.

Some people say if gays just wear suits and ties and never mention that they are gay , strait society will get around to granting gay rights someday , out of the kindness of their hearts . Think again .

I don't think so. It is too easy for people to pretend we don't exist if we don't speak out. At my university someone said to our GLBTI department that we shouldn't exist because it was separating us from everyone else, and we responded that when there was equality, we wouldn't need to exist, but there isn't equality, so we exist to give a strong voice to a minority that is still discriminated against.

Gay pride is for us, not for them. It is a celebration of our diversity and our achievements, as well as of the anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in 1969. It also give us greater visibility.

And I TOTALLY disagree with the idea of tamping down our visibility to gain acceptance from straight people. That's called 'going back in the closet.'

well i just like pissing them off, they're not gonna listen so i might as well annoy the hell out of them. lmao

but i don't want to fit in with them. it's a celebration for gays, not striaghts. if americans wanna celebrate stuff like independence day go ahead, i don't believe we have anything to celebrate over as americans, waht freedom do we have? at least we're proud of who we are, not what we're supose to be.

Nope because they block the streets... jerks