sundries

[rm]

Long, hot, busy weekend for us with the beach and with Pride. Because of budget cuts in NYC no parade is allowed to last longer than 5 hours now, which meant that Pride felt severely truncated. On the other hand, it meant fewer commercial floats, more efficiency, fewer politicians, religious groups marching together and less boring-ness in general.

On the other hand, it made me sad, but so many of the changes in it have made me sad over the last few years The Bear and Leather contingents are very small now; the pagans barely bother to show up, if at all, the moment of silence (even with one at 1 and one at 3) doesn't work (as in, there is not silence), and no one where we were sitting seemed to have any reaction to the two men carrying the sign about the closure of St. Vincents which is of major historical significant to the gay community as well as being a general public health concern for residents of that neighborhood.

Also, Lady Gaga has replaced Madonna as the float music of choice.

Finally, for those wondering about the church group that marched with a blank banner, it was on order from New York's Archbishop.

Please read about someone who wasn't at the parade, the woman in room 609.

CNN has a not too appalling article about bisexuality.

A Pride festival in Minneapolis is thinking of relocating to avoid an anti-gay group that the courts say must be accommodated to spread their message at the festival.

Senator Robert Byrd has died. Aside from being the longest serving member of Congress and a racist (he was a member of the Klan), I personally recall him for long, rambling and only sometimes relevant floor speeches on ancient Greek and Roman history. It was a source of CSPAN fascination for me in my early-20s. More on Byrd (and his legacy of _good_ works) in comments.

Teens, online bullying, parents and schools.

Tobias Wong was a brilliant young designer who recently committed suicide. He had a severe sleep-related disorder, and may not have been in a truly conscious state when his death occurred. This article is entirely heartbreaking.

Building Black Audiences for Broadway. Sadly, this strategy didn't save the superb Passing Strange, but I'm really, really glad it's working for other shows and it's keeping Fela! on stage as I'm dying to see it and haven't had time. More audience diversity means more diversity in Broadway offerings and more work for PoC performers and writers, all of which is good for everyone.

Camille Paglia gives us an article about sex and the white middle class that starts with some promise, gets kinda sketchy and then runs off the rails until I start screaming, which is, I suppose what she's there for. I can try to find you the most offensive part to quote, but that would be difficult. Have fun.

This guide was put together to answer "OMG, I've never been to a con before!" type questions for the upcoming Infinitus 2010. Infinitus may be a Harry Potter con, but much of what's there is useful to anyone with first-time pre-con jitters, although it's always best to remember that every con has a different culture and that single fandom cons tends to have very different personalities than multifandom cons.

Comments

[aviv-b.livejournal.com]

We have our own group of asshats who come to our Pride parade. Generally every float stops in front of them and flips them the bird (literally or figuratively). This year, in a stroke a genius, someone hooked up speakers right where they were stationed and they were completely blocked out. Good work!

I was reflecting with some friends after the parade how its changed in the last 25+ years since I've been going. In the early 80s the parade was still pretty much a Mardi Gras experience. A few gay organizations, some drag queens and leather, a few politicians. Then came the mid-eighties - and the parade became a much more serious occasion...almost like a funeral. HIV/AIDS seemed to be everywhere and nobody knew what to do about it or how to treat it. Except blame gay men.

Over time, as HIV/AIDS became a chronic rather than terminal condition, this issue began to fade to the background. And the GLBT community became a political and economic force that could not be ignored. This led to a huge influx of commercialization and participation by politicians. While this isn't necessary all bad, some of it has a feel of 'hey its an event' so we're here rather than support for the community. Its one thing for the local animal clinic or restaurant to have a float, its quite another for Miller to have the biggest frick'n float in the parade with no real message supporting gay rights, but lots of hard bodied guys and gals gyrating to music and promoting beer. And the politicians - well some are actively supporting GLBT rights, but others seem to be there because 'its expected.'

Not surprisingly, the big issues this year were gay marriage, anti-bullying legislation, and partner benefits. I don't think there was a single reference to safe sex or HIV/AIDS. Is that good or bad? I don't know. What do you think?

[austengirl.livejournal.com]

That's interesting. I marched in New York Pride in 2001 with a friend who was working for an HIV/AIDS organization, I helped carry their banner. Whereas when I went to San Francisco Pride the following year, I definitely got a more commercial feeling about the whole event (Ian McKellan was the grand marshal and had a Starbucks drink in his hand the whole time; Smirnoff had one of the biggest floats, etc). That's not to say there wasn't reference to safer sex or other health issues, but I can't say it stuck in my mind. The dykes on bikes were truly a sight to behold.

I'm really hoping to get to a local Pride event in Liverpool or Manchester this summer if I can make my schedule work, I'll be curious what the themes are of those.

[aviv-b.livejournal.com]

I'd be interested in knowing if there's a different tone to the parade.

I posted pictures at my journal and tried to stick mostly to local advocacy and social organizations as well as local businesses. Some of the commercial floats did have an advocacy message. Blue Cross/BS Illinois had signs about supporting health care for domestic partners - they offer it to their own employees and as an aside, my company also has it through them). Sure, they'll make money if more companies offer benefits for domestic partners, but still it is providing an important product that is not always available for same sex couples.

But 'Happy Pride' drink beer...uh, not quite getting the message there.

[austengirl.livejournal.com]

From what I can tell, this year is Liverpool's first proper Pride March, which is kind of amazing, but not surprising as Manchester has usually been the focus of Pride events in the northwest and has a bigger and more established gay scene.

A look at the 2 websites is pretty telling actually. I don't think I'll be able to get to Manchester's march, but may attend some of the other events if I can.