Oh, as they say, Dear

[cat_77]

It's not a Pride-fest without a controversy of some sort.

Twin Cities Pride Vs Mpls Parks - The pride organizers have been leasing the area for, oh, 30 years, and the park board want to allow an anti-gay activist to lease it at the same time, despite specific laws against it. Should be fun.

I remember this guy from last year - he kept pacing along the parade route trying to both hand out bibles and tell everyone that they were wrong and evil. Had a different feel to him than the peaceful people who simply hand out pamphlets asking if we've found God (love the GLBT churches reactions to them). This guy was eventually asked to leave by the cops as he was being disruptive. Must have found his way down to the park, I guess.

What can I say? Gays: We Know Drama.

Comments

Kids do the darndest things...

[wolfie74]

Is that the same guy j stuck his tong out at when he was 4?

Re: Kids do the darndest things...

[cat_77]

Nope. It's the guy we saw "requested" to leave from the parade and drag_on_king saw dragged out of the park in handcuffs last year.

[sophinisba]

Hey, are you guys going to the parade this weekend? It would be fun if we could meet up. :)

[cat_77]

That is the current plan if a) the weather holds, and b) wolfie74's back feels better - I doubt she's willing to sit/stand for quite that long while still needing the power drugs, but there is a distinct possibility. Would love to "meet" you (in person, for reals)!

If we don't make the parade, there's a 90% chance we will at least stop by to see the Androgyny Kings perform at the Stonewall stage as that's drag_on_king's group.

[emeraldteal]

So how did that turn out? Don't they know you can't mix oil and water and then throw in a lit match? *rolls eyes*

I hate those holier-than-thou types. A 'real' religious person is calm, peaceful and accepting. A rare breed indeed. :(

How did the GLBT churches react, and um... you have GLBT churches?

I remember reading somewhere about Muslim lesbians coming out and forming a group, I think they were Canadian. That was years ago and was a total WTF moment for me. Now I've had my eyes opened a little wider, I can actually say I understand. Arg, there's a whole long post I'm gonna write up some time regarding religion, personal belief and those holier-than-thou types... but it's gonna have to wait. ;)

[cat_77]

Several gay rights activists stood around him in silent vigil holding signs that said things like "Peace" and "Love one another" and "No hate". A different preacher tried to get in on the action and was escorted from the park.

Yep, we have GLBT churches, and synagogues, and several other religious groups that are either outright GLBT or at least GLBT-friendly. I remember one of the first Pride parades I went to, over a decade ago now, had maybe three churches march in it with only a handful of people each. Now, there's bare minimum a dozen, if not more, each with sizable turnouts. The parade as a whole has grown so much and it's amazing to see how far things have come in such a short time. At the same time, you see some very young GLBT people who have no idea of what intolerance is like and, though you are happy for them, worry that they will either not know how to handle it when it strikes, or forget those who literally died to get things to this point.

I have yet to see a Muslim GLBT group, at least in our parade. We have a mosque a few blocks away from our house, and a little Afghani eatery near by. They are wonderfully accepting of the GLBT groups, and the student population who sometimes are dumber than usual. They only ask that we be tolerant as well, which I think is more than a fair trade off. (One woman came in wearing the full veil that covers everything but her eyes while she placed a to-go order and two students made comments. The man behind the counter called his daughter out from the back and she sat with the woman and shared some tea and they mocked the ignorance of others. Our boys were with and criticized the two students. The owner gave them cookies.)

[emeraldteal]

I'm so glad to hear about the parade. There was an Arthur/Merlin fic about them joining this kind of parade, and I felt all flaily about it because they were so proud and happy. (and I was thinking of Vienna Teng's City Hall, which always makes me cry) I think the author pointed out the same thing you did, that they younger generation didn't realize what a struggle it was in the old days. Hmm, that was an achy-happy fic. :)

Anyway, I'm so glad that you have tolerant Muslim folks over there, you have no idea. They're rare here. One of the things I have against Islam is how men like to manipulate it to suit their purposes. I believe that the religion itself is pure, but the way they go about it is like women are second class citizens. And let's not start about how they'd treat anyone 'different'. Some of it is a culture thing, being sexist... but I just don't understand when people claim to be close to God through prayers and what-not... then turn around and hate so completely. WTF.

Oooook, not the time for this ;) I'll just mosey over to a couple more of your fics and be achy-happy instead ;)

[cat_77]

A couple of us had a very similar discussion at work during the huge anti-Muslim sentiment after the New York attacks. We had several people insisting all Muslims were bad and others insisting only a few, and we counted it as a win when a fundamentalist Christian realized every religion has its nuts and every religion has a separation between the word and spirit thereof versus actual practice.

I am likely wrong as I have not studied a lot about this specifically, but was reading up on cultural history and it seemed to me that a lot of the laws were originally in place to *protect* the women, not subjugate them. Mix in a few people who learned to take advantage of that and work it to their own way over the centuries, and you have what you have now, in multiple cultures, not just one (there are fundamentalist Christians and Jews who do the same, and I'm willing to go out on a limb and assume it's like this across the board - see law/warp law/use law for own means).