Just Like The Rest of Us, Right?

Just Like The Rest of Us, Right?

American Family Association has been promoting a boycott of McDonald's because of their involvement with the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce, sponsorship of the San Francisco Gay Pride Parade, and the statement of a McDonald's spokesman that opposition to same-sex marriage is based on hatred. AFA has a web page up with some photographs that they say are from the most recent San Francisco Gay Pride Parade--and they are definitely not worksafe. They may not be lunchsafe.

Now, it is possible that these photographs aren't what AFA claims that they are--but if you go to any of a number of collections of photographs of the San Francisco Gay Pride Parade, AFA's photographs aren't at all hard to believe. Not every person marching in the parade is naked, or almost naked. Not every person is doing their best to appear like a freak. There are some that look like they want to be taken seriously as people, not as a circus sideshow (and my guess is that the more unusual ones tend to get photographed).

Still: what does it say about "being gay" that so many people feel it is appropriate to dress and behave in a manner that conforms to the worst stereotypes of homosexuality? Imagine if the NAACP sponsored a parade in which black men all dressed like Superfly, or worse, were portrayed as rapists. Even if there were blacks who thought that this was funny, or clever satire, they would find themselves marching pretty alone--because most blacks in America abhor these vicious stereotypes.

I'll believe the "homosexuals are just like the rest of us except for who they love" when gay pride parades stop being freak shows.