Svejk - //Don't care what people do with/to each other in private. (as long as no-one gets hurt) But why is homosexuality seen as a 'badge of honour' nowadays. Cant they just, quietly, get on with their lives like the rest of us do. //
I don't think overt proclamations of homosexuality are a 'badge of honour', but I do think they are a badge of pride.
I am fortunate that I live in a tolerant society, I am heterosexual, and I am white.
But if none of those things were in place - if I had grown up in, and to a lesser extent still live in, a society that has large amounts of intolerance towards me for being what I am, then, given an opportunity, I might feel it appropriate to join with like-minded people and confirm that I have nothing to be ashamed of, and I am absolutely not ashamed to be who I am.
It's about balance. If a section of the community is made to feel like a minority, and is castigated and criticised and ostracised for its lifestyle, then its natural reaction is to react with exaggerated pride and positivity - to make an extra point about being what they are, that society is against.
That, essentially is what Gay Pride marches and rallies are all about. Yes, the vast majority of gay people go about their lives without making (literally!) a song and dance about their orientation, but what's wrong, once or twice a year, with kicking up your heels and having a party to celebrate your difference?
It has to be a nice opportunity to enjoy a strength-in-numbers celebration, when you spend the other 363 days of the year living with casual, and often overt homophobia that, although it is hundreds of times less than it was in previous generation, is still alive and ill.