Closing Bell: No Straight Pride
Brooklyn Pride may have filled the streets in June, but the first Straight Pride parade yielded slightly smaller attendance: zero. The parade was set start at 10AM on Sunday and follow “the same route as the annual Caribbean labor day parade,” according to a press release. The parade was organized, or at least conceived of,…
Brooklyn Pride may have filled the streets in June, but the first Straight Pride parade yielded slightly smaller attendance: zero. The parade was set start at 10AM on Sunday and follow “the same route as the annual Caribbean labor day parade,” according to a press release. The parade was organized, or at least conceived of, by a Reggae group whose song was banned (it apparently had lyrics advocating violence against gays — we haven’t heard it). They countered that gays are targeting Reggae groups “because 99 percent of the artists are African American.” What a mess. At least one brave, gay blogger showed up to find the meeting spot empty. He had this to say: “Damn, and here I wanted a Straight Pride t-shirt.”
Straight Pride Parade: Attendance Zero [Joemygod]
Photo from Joe. My. God..
Just Wondering, great post, particularly the human race response.
cmu, I’ve debated this with my Asian friends often as well. If they were born in the States, but their parents or grandparents were from China, should they respond “Chinese” when asked “what they are”? I agree with you that they should respond they are American of Chinese origina. Same can be applied to Italians, Irish, and all other Americans with non-American origins (which is virtually everyone other than Native Americans).
Then there’s the question of people mixing nationality with religion, i.e., one person says he’s Italian and the other says he’s Jewish. But that’s another story…
rehab, sorry, of course I meant gay groups, not anti-gay groups. My bad.
I refuse to use the misnomer African-American unless it’s correctly applied to an African who’s emigrated to America.
If one can say “white” one can use “black”. All else is PC.
Just as I am an Indian-American, but my son is an American of Indian origin, but not an Indian-American.
Some of you guys are confused, Denton, especially:
“There’s not just one artist that is under attack by anti-gay groups, there are several, including Beenie Man, Buju Banton (love him), Elephant Man, Vybz Kartel, Capleton, and Sizzla (another fave).”
This stuff is under attack by GAY groups (and other people with brains), not anti-gay groups. Why? Because many of its artists openly, enthusiastically, repeatedly urge people to kill, maim, shoot, and burn gays, among them Beenie Man and Buju Banton. Have you listened to the lyrics?
Gays are routinely tortured and killed in Jamaica, and the police do nothing. Far as I’m concerned, they can have their impoverished island and their repetitive, religious-stoner/gay-bashing music.
That is the Prime Minister of Jamaica let the gay community know that they are not welcomed on the island and that they don’t want gay money. My cousin had to leave Kingston at 17 years old after being physically assaulted and seriously injured. He has never returned. We both listen to reggae music though.
As someone with grandparents from four different continents and four different cultural/lingual groups, these categories drive me crazy. It takes much thought before I check any box on an application because I don’t want to deny any part of my heritage and I don’t like ‘other’. If you are a dark-brown skinned Bengali, like McCain’s daughter, are you white? If you were born in Jamaica of African descent but are now an American citizen are you African-American? If you are a Chinese-Trinidadian in America, are you Caribbean-American or Chinese-American. Are Mexicans of Aztec descent ‘Hispanic’ or Native American? I can at times look Asian, Native American, South American, European or Black depending on my tan and if my hair is blow dried super straight or not. After being asked countless times “what are you?” I just stick with American. When I am further questioned with “No what race are you?” I just say human.
Anyway West Indians especially Jamaicans are notorious gay bashers. The Prime Minister
“it’s not just one artist but many, ya heard?”
Your misguided attempt at slang is embarrassingly inauthentic, but yes, I get your point.
Not in my circle 11233. I listen to reggae at Solomon’s Porch a lot. Never heard about this. But I don’t know any of the songs or the artists.
!