Pride. What Can Be Bad About That?

    Seeing as this is Pride Month, I was asked by a reader if I would write an opinion on Pride Parades and their pros and cons. To my mind, there aren't really that many cons at all. Pride parades, whether they be LGBT, Irish, Cuban or what have you, are simply about a group of people expressing their happiness in their shared affiliation. Having pride in one's self is generally a good thing and I for one am happy for them. The only real con, however, tends to be a pretty big one. When the pride people feel and their desire to share it morphs into aggressively pushing their differences in others faces with the purpose of gleefully reveling in their discomfort, then I stop being a fan. Do men need to wear g-strings and ball gags as they walk down the street to show that they are not ashamed of being gay? Do Cubans need to also disparage America in order to praise their heritage? Do the Irish need to be fall down drunk on St. Patrick's day to pay proper homage to their ancestors? Uh, no. No, they don't. 

    It is said that pride cometh before the fall, and that is generally true. Most people don't have any problems with the pride others feel about themselves. If you don't share something with someone, that doesn't mean you don't like it. But the quickest way to turn people off is a neener neener style of over the top bravado. No one likes a hatefully delivered message, even if the message itself is just fine. More and more, people are finding that when they say they don't want to watch two dudes go at it, they are labeled as homophobic. That if they don't like cultural pride parades because other cultures are degraded in them, that means they are racists. It gets very tiring. What happened to being able to appreciate one thing without having to push something else into the gutter? If you are gay and go on and on about how being straight is gross, don't be shocked if straight people don't love that. If all your pride as a black person is built on your believe that white people are the devil, well you get the point. 

 It pretty much comes down to common sense. Pros: Personal and shared happiness. Cons: Divisive obnoxiousness. If everyone can just make sure to stick to the pros, we can be proud of the selves we were born as, and the selves we choose to be. So be proud, wave your flag, but just make sure that you aren't screaming at anyone and that you're always wearing pants. Words to live by. 


VOH