Downtown Austin
Pride Should Be Outrageous!
RECEIVED Tue., June 24, 2008
Dear Editor,
What a shame. What a surprise! Austin's Gay Pride Parade is being driven by homophobic assimilationists. Thanks to the "Respectable Street" article [June 13], we queers do not have to wonder what agenda the lonely three Pride organizers and their Chamber of Commerce have up their sleeves. A benign, family-oriented event that caters to gay consumerist culture. Paving the way for newer, more digestible, commercialized gay identity. Secretly setting up barriers of race, class, and expression.
Dearest Gratias, it is a matter of acceptance. If you're concerned with the children's well-being, remember this: Discrimination is the struggle. Acceptance is respect. Ripping a community in half based on looks or "outrageous behavior" for "normal" status is not what our children should be learning. We've come too far for homophobic comments from homos. Really.
Have your parade. Maybe we'll come. But leave the hateful, discriminatory jargon out of it.
We are queer. We are not like heterosexuals. And it's an amazing feeling.
What a shame. What a surprise! Austin's Gay Pride Parade is being driven by homophobic assimilationists. Thanks to the "Respectable Street" article [June 13], we queers do not have to wonder what agenda the lonely three Pride organizers and their Chamber of Commerce have up their sleeves. A benign, family-oriented event that caters to gay consumerist culture. Paving the way for newer, more digestible, commercialized gay identity. Secretly setting up barriers of race, class, and expression.
Dearest Gratias, it is a matter of acceptance. If you're concerned with the children's well-being, remember this: Discrimination is the struggle. Acceptance is respect. Ripping a community in half based on looks or "outrageous behavior" for "normal" status is not what our children should be learning. We've come too far for homophobic comments from homos. Really.
Have your parade. Maybe we'll come. But leave the hateful, discriminatory jargon out of it.
We are queer. We are not like heterosexuals. And it's an amazing feeling.
Scott Tankersley
[Gay Place Editor Kate X Messer responds: Dear Scott, here at the Chronicle we have a custom called the "Norwegian Rule," which basically states that if you think something is a good idea, you should do it. And in the case of your letter, you should. If you feel that Pride should be more expressive, you have the power. Make it so.]