Comments on: Gay Pride March http://www.saltshaker.net/20051120/gay-pride-march Casting a little flavor (and a few aspersions) on the world of food, drink, and life Sat, 30 Aug 2008 00:04:52 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: SaltShaker » Blog Archive » A Beaux Arts Walk http://www.saltshaker.net/20051120/gay-pride-march#comment-132 SaltShaker » Blog Archive » A Beaux Arts Walk Sat, 14 Jan 2006 13:39:53 +0000 http://www.saltshaker.net/20051120/gay-pride-march#comment-132 [...] Stretching from the National Congress building to the Presidential Palace is the famed Avenida de Mayo, the city’s official processional route. I’ve travelled it by bus and taxi, purely by happenstance, and even walked the length once during the gay pride parade, though my attention wasn’t on the architecture that time. Back during the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, this was one of the main avenues to be completely rebuilt in a style that was intended to imitate the capitols of Europe, and especially Paris. Most of the buildings built at that time are still standing, and are a tribute to the French Beaux Arts architectural style. [...] [...] Stretching from the National Congress building to the Presidential Palace is the famed Avenida de Mayo, the city’s official processional route. I’ve travelled it by bus and taxi, purely by happenstance, and even walked the length once during the gay pride parade, though my attention wasn’t on the architecture that time. Back during the late 19th and early 20th Centuries, this was one of the main avenues to be completely rebuilt in a style that was intended to imitate the capitols of Europe, and especially Paris. Most of the buildings built at that time are still standing, and are a tribute to the French Beaux Arts architectural style. [...]

]]> By: dan http://www.saltshaker.net/20051120/gay-pride-march#comment-77 dan Mon, 21 Nov 2005 10:32:31 +0000 http://www.saltshaker.net/20051120/gay-pride-march#comment-77 A friend of mine sent me an e-mail about this post, to which I responded, that maybe fleshes out my feelings about things "here" and "there" a bit. I'll reproduce the exchange, slightly edited for relevance. He wrote: <em>Enjoyable indeed, and an interesting experience/perspective. I will say that for my part, I went to the NY parade with my boyfriend for a few years, then grew tired of it for the same reasons you cite. But then I heard Harvey Fierstein speaking on "In the Life" sometime last year. He basically said (in reference to the political situation, and acceptance overall): if you're not out there marching, if you're not out there being counted and working to make a difference, you have no business complaining about the state of the nation. This year, I marched for the first time, and my boyfriend was there at my side. We went with the Pride Agenda. He held a big blue balloon that said "Equal Rights: No More, No Less", and I handed out upwards of 2,000 stickers with the same message. It was an obscenely hot & sunny day, but we made it for the full 5 hours it took to reach the piers, and I think we'll probably do it again next year. So I guess my point is, I think the NYC parade can still have soul to balance any cheesy floats, if we make our own presences seen, heard and felt -- not as strippers, drag queens or other fantasies, but as we truly are every day.</em> My response: <em>While I do understand Harvey's point (and I heard it as well), I don't necessarily agree. The biggest difference between NYC and BsAs is that in New York there are opportunities to stand up and be counted on a daily basis. There are organizations, clubs, events, political groups, social groups, rallies, and a whole bevy of other things. And I'd certainly agree with Harvey that if you're not active in some fashion, out there being counted, then he's right, you have no right to complain. I think a lot of what's made the parade into what it has become is that it is, at least in my view, a distant second to all that - what has become important in New York is being out in daily life, and in other visible activities. That's still not possible here - theoretically yes, after all this country has had legal civil unions for gays for more than a decade - in practice, not so much, it's still a very closeted country - the openly gay part of Buenos Aires (and it's really limited to just the city, not the country as a whole) is very much a tourist thing, not the residents. The parade is a once a year chance for locals to really and truly come out of the closet in a supportive event, a chance to have something about being gay actually appear on the news, a chance to see that they aren't alone, a chance for that person who snuck out of the house because maybe, just maybe... can be touched, can be swept along in the parade, and join in for a little while. And while I could buy the argument about a need for the balance of those of us who are just ourselves versus the strippers and floats, the question becomes, for whom? The people lining the parade route are more of the same, the people who the parade, in my view, used to be for, to reach out to, aren't there. And if they are, I don't really think they see the balance, I think they just see the flash. And what appears on the news media to maybe reach someone who didn't get out of the house to get there, or maybe to change someone's point of view? Only the stuff that just reinforces the stereotypes. Who knows? Maybe I'm just jaded about New York in general, I have to admit, I sure don't miss it!</em> A friend of mine sent me an e-mail about this post, to which I responded, that maybe fleshes out my feelings about things “here” and “there” a bit. I’ll reproduce the exchange, slightly edited for relevance.

He wrote:

Enjoyable indeed, and an interesting experience/perspective. I will say that for my part, I went to the NY parade with my boyfriend for a few years, then grew tired of it for the same reasons you cite. But then I heard Harvey Fierstein speaking on “In the Life” sometime last year. He basically said (in reference to the political situation, and acceptance overall): if you’re not out there marching, if you’re not out there being counted and working to make a difference, you have no business complaining about the state of the nation. This year, I marched for the first time, and my boyfriend was there at my side. We went with the Pride Agenda. He held a big blue balloon that said “Equal Rights: No More, No Less”, and I handed out upwards of 2,000 stickers with the same message. It was an obscenely hot & sunny day, but we made it for the full 5 hours it took to reach the piers, and I think we’ll probably do it again next year.

So I guess my point is, I think the NYC parade can still have soul to balance any cheesy floats, if we make our own presences seen, heard and felt — not as strippers, drag queens or other fantasies, but as we truly are every day.

My response:

While I do understand Harvey’s point (and I heard it as well), I don’t necessarily agree. The biggest difference between NYC and BsAs is that in New York there are opportunities to stand up and be counted on a daily basis. There are organizations, clubs, events, political groups, social groups, rallies, and a whole bevy of other things. And I’d certainly agree with Harvey that if you’re not active in some fashion, out there being counted, then he’s right, you have no right to complain. I think a lot of what’s made the parade into what it has become is that it is, at least in my view, a distant second to all that - what has become important in New York is being out in daily life, and in other visible activities.

That’s still not possible here - theoretically yes, after all this country has had legal civil unions for gays for more than a decade - in practice, not so much, it’s still a very closeted country - the openly gay part of Buenos Aires (and it’s really limited to just the city, not the country as a whole) is very much a tourist thing, not the residents. The parade is a once a year chance for locals to really and truly come out of the closet in a supportive event, a chance to have something about being gay actually appear on the news, a chance to see that they aren’t alone, a chance for that person who snuck out of the house because maybe, just maybe… can be touched, can be swept along in the parade, and join in for a little while.

And while I could buy the argument about a need for the balance of those of us who are just ourselves versus the strippers and floats, the question becomes, for whom? The people lining the parade route are more of the same, the people who the parade, in my view, used to be for, to reach out to, aren’t there. And if they are, I don’t really think they see the balance, I think they just see the flash. And what appears on the news media to maybe reach someone who didn’t get out of the house to get there, or maybe to change someone’s point of view? Only the stuff that just reinforces the stereotypes.

Who knows? Maybe I’m just jaded about New York in general, I have to admit, I sure don’t miss it!

]]>