Dallas Gay Pride Parade comes this Sunday and every year when thousands come together there will be some type of drama or controversy. If Lee Park is not trying to charge an admission then they are putting up fences on Cedar Springs and Oaklawn. This year it gets even crazier with a debate over (mostly guys) wearing underwear.
The gays seem to be split over threats of enforcement over new dress code rules at this years Gay Pride Parade in Dallas. While some of our favorite floats are the ones that show more skin they could have to cover most of it up. Even Miley Cyrus or Lady Gaga would not be able to attend this years parade or be on a float. Both sides have valid points because it is a family friendly event but then again it is also PRIDE and we have always had the leather guys, dancers, and sex provoking drag queens showing as much as they can. It is a display of what we see at the clubs and in our lives as gay people. If someone wants to come and watch then come along. Part of me says “If you don’t then stay home honey buns. Watch football or save your money for a ThanksGiving Day or Santa Claus Parade.” Then I look at the ambitious gays who are trying to get their employers to have floats and march beside each other and not only bring up company moral but also invite their families to join together in a day of bonding (not bondage). So should we all wear ties and suits and where does the dress code stop?
“So the Dallas Tavern Guild has instituted NEW rules for parade participants at this year’s Alan Ross Texas Freedom Parade- more commonly known as Dallas Pride. To make the parade more “family friendly” and to accommodate comfort for the increasing number of attending heterosexuals and corporate sponsorship- participants are being asked to cover up! No bare asses, no breasts (even with pasties) no tight underwear on dancers, nothing too political at all. The “queer” is effectively being erased from our pride celebration in favor of the most polished, heteronormative representation of our community as possible.
It should be noted that the rioters at the Stonewall Inn fought to break OUT of the damn closet!
Our movement was built of sex positivity and our desire to BE WHO WE ARE!
Some of you may be the monogamous, nuclear family type-and that’s cool if that’s your fetish, but the vast majority of our community is NOT and are now being stripped of the dignity of living out and authentically AT PRIDE!
I urge you ALL to openly DEFY the Tavern Guild!
PRIDE OUT WITH YOUR FUCKING HIDE OUT!!!!
#share far and wide #shame on Dallas Pride organizers! #Prideoutwithyourhideout!” -Daniel Cates on Facebook
A response to this (Mary) is
“I think there need to be two distinct parades: the gay pride parade should remain as is for the LGBT community, designed by them exactly as they want. But then there should be one more focused on human rights issues – because come on, the doctor, teacher, lawyer, chef, interior designer, police officer, etc, who is partying it up at the gay pride parade in leathers or with their but cheeks hanging out, doesn’t wear that to the office. The annual gay pride parade isn’t about looking the way they go to work, it is about self-expression. It shouldn’t be forced to be an event it isn’t. But a separate human rights oriented parade that addresses today’s issues and shows the faces of the LGBT community as they are in day to day life is also equally important towards helping those who fear what is different to discover their common humanity. Such a parade that also showcases the amazing contributions that LGBT people have made to humanity over the centuries would also be incredible!”
Another Facebook post that points out the similarities with Russia’s holding us in the closet “Last week, Russian lawmaker and nationalist party leader Alexei Zhuravlev proposed legislation that would allow the government to remove all children from all LGBT parents and from same-sex couples. Meanwhile, in equally disturbing news, parade participants in Dallas cannot wear underwear in public this weekend.”
The Tin Room and BJ NX’s had some of the best floats in the parade last year following another club called Kaliente although the first two were the ones you see photos of in the news reports. Kaliente had the most creative float by far. Creativity should be the biggest thing we strive for in these parades to show what we can do then try and tell a story of how we want to progress.
The Dallas Observer made a post on this with a Facebook headline that reads “The prospect of a nudity-free Gay Pride Parade is upsetting LGBT organizations” trying to slant what really happens at a gay pride parade. There really is no nudity at the Dallas parade. If someone wearing underwear is nude then they need to redefine nude. You have straight girls going ALMOST nude wearing nothing but body paint in that new MTV Show they are filming “Big Tips Texas”. The Voice also made their headlines read wrong. No telling what Fox News and Huffington Post will say regarding this we may all end up criminals just for attending the parade once they are done making headlines. Why is it that girls can walk around in bikinis but when guys do it then becomes a crime because a kid is in the audience? How screwed up is that?
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