London Zoo - Gay Sunday

[4getmenot]

I have just read in paper about 'gay Sunday' being held at London zoo. Why does anyone feel the need to have days like this anymore. It says they'll be a homosexual debate and drag queens, like all gay people like drag queens. I don't quite understand why a gay person would go to a day like this, if its to say they are gay and proud of it why do they feel the need they have to? It shouldn't be an issue surely by now we all know some people like the same sex some don't, some like both. Can gay people not go to a normal day at London Zoo because straight people will pick them out straight away? We don't separate black and white anymore so why should we make an issue out of being gay by having events like this? I;d just like to hear peoples views and maybe something that would change my mind about it being a waste of time

[sp1814]

Campfire

Blinding answer.

Couldn't put it better myself.

[4getmenot]

I;m not homophobic in the slightest. I know alot of my gay friends wouldnt go to these days that have been stereotyped with drag queens. It may be a finger up to homophobes, but surely thats more egging them on. and I would never describe it as you have the same rights now shut up, but I do think some gay people are a bit over the top with the whole I;m gay look at me attitude

[4getmenot]

Just meaning I find it very sad that they have to have these days in the first place. But I do understand you views.

[Campfire]

For some reason the word limit is 2,000 but won't tell you that if you only go a few words over it.

Thus, the end of that post was supposed to be, "raise awareness and combat ignorance."

I also think a good analogy which pertains to what I was getting at in my rant is the Mothers Day analogy. As a child, you may have asked your mother, "Why do you get a mother's day, but I don't get a kid's day?" To which she probably replied, "Every day is kid's day."

Every day is heterosexual day. That's why "we" get special days where "we" congregate and do the things "we" do. Because in our normal every day lives gay people simply cannot do that.

[Campfire]

Sorry to carry this on, I do think it's been answered sufficiently, but I wanted to clarify a couple of things. Firstly I did not for a second think you were homophobic. Secondly, yes, it will egg on the hardcore religious zealots who truly think sodomy is a sin and all that tripe. It doesn't matter what tactic is taken with those people they will always turn up shouting their vitriol, their intransigence knows no bounds. However, something must be going right, because attitudes towards homosexuality have improved ever since, and reason/logic is prevailing. Sure, the zealots will be "egged on" but that's largely irrelevant.

As for some gay people being over the top... well, yes. There are some who one might consider are "over the top," you probably mean drag queens or glittery scene queens. But if all you're referring to are the "fabulous" OTT people at gay pride parades, you're missing the point. They don't go to work dressed like that. They are not asking for their right to dress like that in the street. That's just part of a parade. Black people don't want to go around dressed up in peacock feathers but that's what they might do at the Notting Hill carnival. It's all about being grandiose and elaborate to stand out and make a point. It wouldn't be much fun if they dressed in grey anoraks and marched with pickets - leave that to the pro-life brigade!

Similarly, this point of being "over the top" is only made because they are gay, which links back to the stigma that follows around gay people all the time. If two men kiss in the middle of a nightclub or in the queue at the supermarket, people think they are "flaunting" their sexuality or shoving it in your face. If two straight people do it, people at worst think it's a little nauseating or think it's sweet. Nobody says, "Oh look at those straight people flaunting their heterosexuality, why can't they just keep it to themselves."