GAY PRIDE ? 2008

I have been thinking about GAY PRIDE MONTH for the whole of June and trying to decide.....do I get involved....do I celebrate....do I just ignore it. Greensboro had their Gay Pride Weekend in early June which I did not attend due to work. NYC, where my son (Elliot) lives, celebrated GAY PRIDE this past weekend. After speaking with him, I "Googled" the event and was somewhat disappointed at the images I saw.

I'm not so sure I have much to be proud of when I look at the pictures of the NYC GAY PRIDE Parade. In my opinion, it was a little much for my personal taste. Let's face it. I'm a 43 Year Old , Gay Father of 3 kids. I came out later in life and I'm quite conservative. If I were in my 20's and single, I may feel differently.

Scantly clad men strutting down the NYC streets seems more like a public display of erotica, rather than a group of a Proud people being GAY / LESBIAN. It seems more like an "In Your Face" exhibition to the Christian Reich, Conservatives and other groups who show intolerance for homosexuality. And in defense of those groups mentioned.....Our People sure can give them "fuel for their fire", by such public displays. I, personally, have no issue with the scantly dressed gay men....however, I wonder if it more appropriate for the creative, expressive and erotic behavior be displayed at the gay clubs and bars....and leave the Public Parades as an expression of unity and a way to educate the watching.

Now.....with all that being said.....I am quite comfortable in my skin as a gay man. I am in no way embarrassed of who I am. And I am Proud of the People like myself, who call themselves gay / lesbian. The "price" many gays / lesbians have paid to be OUT, has been high, and still more and more come OUT !! Our world is a much more beautiful, creative and artistic place because of the homosexuals who have come before us......Socrates, Richard, the lion hearted, Lord Byron, Walt Whitman, Oscar Wilde, Cole Porter, Andy Warhol, Willa Cather, Tchaiovsky, Julius Caesar, Augustus Caesar, and Marie Antoinette. Michelangelo....and the list goes on.