Why I'm Skipping the Pride Parade

Today is the Chicago Pride Parade.  This is one of the premier pride events in the world; the crowd this year is predicted to be up near 1,000,000.  It’s a colorful and fun-filled day, and everyone should go at least once to such an event.  But I’m skipping it this year, even though the route passes less than a mile from where I live.  The explanation is simple: I’m just getting too old.

I attended my first Pride Parade was when I lived in San Diego.  It was an astonishing event, for this country boy from Oklahoma.  Three things about that first parade stand out.  One is that the superintendent of schools marched in the parade with a group of his gay and lesbian teachers.  Such a thing could never have happened in Oklahoma (probably still doesn’t) and I thought of all the closeted gay teachers back home who would lose their jobs for coming out.  Second were the contingents of police and firefighters marching in the parade, led by the fire chief and the police superintendent.  Again, such a thing was unimaginable back in Oklahoma.  And my third strongest memory of the parade is when we were all walking from the parade to the Pride Festival at Balboa Park: from a hilltop I turned and looked back down the hill and there were hundreds—thousands—of men and women celebrating gay pride, heading in a mass movement to the park.  It was a revelatory moment, and one I’ll never forget.

And then when I moved to Chicago I went to the parade my first few years here—it was a short walk there, after all.  These were much bigger parades, and I didn’t last the entire day (my knees couldn’t take it), but there were several things that stood out at those first parades.  One was that the governor walked the entire length of the parade (as well as many other politicians—but look at the size of the GLBT voting block!).  Again, there were contingents of teachers and firefighters and police.  Many businesses had floats, and all the media outlets had floats.  Gay bars were represented, but so were many organizations, both gay and straight; and many churches are represented also, something perhaps not seen much in Oklahoma and Texas.  Truly, this city turns out in support of equality and fairness.  Last year was the first year for the parade after Illinois joined the states allowing same-sex marriage; not surprisingly, the turnout last year was a record.  But the size of the audience keeps growing.  And judging by what I saw as I walked part of the route this morning heading for my regular Sunday-Morning-Coffee-with-Jack, there are as many straight people as gay, perhaps more.  And many people bring their children, too, both gay and straight couples.  Chicago does love a good parade/party.  And Chicago supports fairness and equality.

But it’s supposed to be 90 degrees today.  And my knees haven’t gotten any better over the years.  So I’ll stay home again today.  I’ve got good memories of the other parades I’ve been too.  And I’ll let the younger set do the celebrating for me.  They deserve it.  Okay, I deserve it too, but they will have to stand in my stead.

Fun and Games with the Texas Republicans

It’s that time again: the Texas GOP has published their new platform—for 2014—although it seriously looks like it’s for 1914.  It would be funnier if the platform didn’t hurt thousands of people in many different ways.  Here are a few of the ignorant and egregiously wrong elements of the platform:

1.  I can’t even imagine these sentiments in the year 2014: irrelevant and ignorant and completely out of touch with reality:  “Homosexuality is a chosen behavior that is contrary to the fundamental unchanging truths that have been ordained by God in the Bible, recognized by our nation’s founders, and shared by the majority of Texans. Homosexuality must not be presented as an acceptable alternative lifestyle, in public policy, nor should family be redefined to include homosexual couples. We believe there should be no granting of special legal entitlements or creation of special status for homosexual behavior, regardless of state of origin. Additionally, we oppose any criminal or civil penalties against those who oppose homosexuality out of faith, conviction, or belief in traditional values.”*

2.  Every legitimate psychological and psychiatric association has disavowed the idea that “reparative therapy” works to “cure” the gay.  And anyone who knows anything about this dangerous and often damaging “treatment” knows it’s a fraud.  But facts just don’t seem to matter much those Texas GOPers:  “We recognize the legitimacy and efficacy of counseling, which offers reparative therapy and treatment for those patients seeking healing and wholeness from their homosexual lifestyle. No laws or executive orders shall be imposed to limit or restrict access to this type of therapy.”

3.  In line with the national GOP ideas, using the term lightly, Texas Republicans would do away with Social Security and transition to a private model.  We’ve seen how that would have worked after what happened in 2008: “We support an immediate and orderly transition to a system of private pensions based on the concept of individual retirement accounts, and gradually phasing out the Social Security tax.”

4.  Pornography is equated with cocaine and meth?!  “We encourage state and federal governments to severely prosecute illegal dealers and manufacturers of addictive substances, including pornography . . . “

5.  Not surprisingly,  they want nothing to do with climate change, completely ignoring science and the facts—again:  “While we all strive to be good stewards of the earth, ‘climate change’ is a political agenda which attempts to control every aspect of our lives. We urge government at all levels to ignore any plea for money to fund global climate change or ‘climate justice initiatives.’”

6.  Of course Islamophobia raises its ugly head as the GOP believes laws should be passed to prevent Sharia Law from becoming the law of the land, even though that hasn’t happened and couldn’t happen (and a federal appeals court blocked such a move for a similar law in Oklahoma as the court “did not know of even a single instance where an Oklahoma court had applied Sharia law or used the legal precepts of other nations or cultures, let alone that such applications or uses had resulted in concrete problems in Oklahoma”).  Texas either: “We also urge the Texas Legislature and the United States Congress to enact legislation prohibiting any judicial jurisdiction from allowing any substitute or parallel system of law, specifically foreign law (including Sharia Law), which is not in accordance with the United States or Texas Constitutions.”

There’s more, but I am sick to my stomach and have to stop.  Additional items include these GOP shibboleths: get out of the UN; lots of hate on immigration—but little on compassion; of course they don’t forget the rich, and they clearly support greater income inequality; and it wouldn’t be a good Republican document if it didn’t include Benghazi.

There are some terrific people in Texas, including relatives and friends of mine, but this GOP platform ought to horrify them.  It won’t.

*These quotes are from the released GOP platform available readily on-line.