Goodbye, Mr. Chaps
Few can agree on the reasons, but one thing is sure: New York’s affluent gays and lesbians are staying away from this Sunday’s Gay Pride Parade in droves, and they’re taking with them the money that has kept a 37-year-old tradition alive
Nick Shapland, a tall, well-tanned and skinny 22-year-old with carefully tousled brown hair, won’t be one of them.
“Gay Pride is boring,” said the self-described poet and resident of Williamsburg.
It was 2:30 in the morning, and he and two friends were standing outside the East Village gay bar Phoenix, where Bud and Bud Light are on offer for a dollar a cup on Wednesdays, debating the point. One of his friends seemed appalled, but only registered it by shaking his head disapprovingly as Mr. Shapland went on.
“Maybe in the 60’s, it was fun when you’re like, ‘Fuck you! Fuck you, I’m gay and you’re an asshole,’ you know?” Mr. Shapland said. “Then you fast-forward from 19-whenever—whenever the gay revolution was, I don’t know, I’m not a scholar—things go on and get kind of boring.”
A few days later, on Sunday, June 17, Brian O’Dell, a co-founder of Heritage of Pride, the organization that convenes a week of Gay Pride events each year, looked out over the green at Bryant Park.
“We used to get thousands of people at an event like this,” he said.
This was the Rally, the kickoff event of the week, and traditionally a magnet for New York’s politically motivated gays. Memorable speeches from the likes of Harry Hay, Urvashi Vaid and Morty Manford have thundered through the podium at the Rally in decades past, to the applause of thousands.
But on this Sunday, the lawn was mostly empty, with a crowd of about a hundred people watching comedians Keith Price and Julie Goldman take the stage. Press material for the event had anticipated a crowd of 8,000.
“There’s sort of this indifference to Pride,” he said. Next Page >
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No mention here of how the Pride Fest was another noxious 'street fair' with sausage tents and gayer underwear. Or how the parade is half full of corporate floats. Who cares?
When I lived in New York up to 1991 the Pride March was a powerful political protest. I think that the relative absence of things to protest against, plus the "bigging-up" of affluent, middle-class lesbians and gay men, has had its effect. New York was the first (remember Stonewall?) and for a long time the biggest and best, so it will be one of the last to go. But go it will, unfortunately.
What would be good would be for the Heritage of Pride organisation to start thinking about how to galvanise people once again in a new and different way, and turn its attention to organising that. Instead of being the last ones out the "parade" door and turning out the lights, with a bit of flair and panache they could make the idea of celebrating our sexuality important and popular again. Obviously it's not a parade that will do the trick now, so if they look for the next Big Thing, they can start the bandwagon rolling. Good luck to them!
People can get prided out in June because there are many events now, many Prides. The other boroughs are doing Pride parades. Queens, for example, has been doing a Pride Parade for the past 15 years. In Queens, Danny Dromm, who started the parade, and others have said that the increased visibility of the LGBT community has meant that whereas fifteen years ago few politicans wanted to show up to march now there are many. Marching can make a difference. Staten Island had a Pride Parade this year, so perhaps their politicians will also become more supportive. Manhattan is not the center anymore. Many politicians also hold Pride events. Queens Borough President Helen Marshall has opened Queens Borough Hall to the LGBT community since she became Borough President.
Marching is important because it makes politicians notice your community. A community which could not organize parades would not be taken as seriously. LGBTs are still not equal so there are many reasons to march. While one can celebrate the New York State Assembly finally voting for marriage equality, there is still the battle of swaying the New York State Senate. And the Gender Expression Nondiscrimination Act still has not made it out of committee.
Maybe the format of the parade has to be reconsidered.
As a young budding professional who has been to Pride going on five years in a row, I am saddened by the emerging attitude that the parade has become quaint. My first parade was an experience; I didn't stand on the sidelines to observe, I marched. I missed most of the floats with the boys in thongs and leather daddies with whips. What I did catch was the million of supporters lining the streets cheering at me for being nothing but myself. This was a profound experience. Although I was already well on my way out of the closet (I probably would have done fine had I not gone to the parade) I realised that my marching and the million cheering had implications reaching far beyond 5th Ave.
New York City, being the capitol of the world, has the opportunity to influence the politics of the country and indeed the world. By showing up in droves every year, we demonstrate to the rest of the world the ubiquity of the LGBT community. The battle cry, "We're here, We're queer, Get used to it!" may no longer be appropriate for NYC streets. Maybe it should be changed to "They're there, They're queer, Get used to it!" We need to stand up for and with our LGBT brothers and sisters around the world. We have to realize that being viewed as "just another part of the community" is a luxury was have as New Yorkers. We should stand up for those around the world who can't stand up for themselves. We should be the example of what a city could and should be; protecting the rights of the oppressed and celebrating the histores and cultures of all it's citizens.
I have been rambling a lot, but I guess my point is, the parade can and has taken on new meanings along the years. From protesting an unjust police raid, to raising awareness of AIDS epidemic, to celebrating differences and similarities, to marching as an example to the world. The parade has come to mean so much to so many people. It would be a shame to let a great tradition fall by the wayside.
I've gone to the March (yes it is a march and Heritage of Pride is insistant about that - problem 1)
for at least 12 years. There have been many changes and the loss of energy is one major one. Many of the reasons are valid, people have other choices, younger men are disinetersted.
For years I have heard about people volunteering at HOP and becoming quickly disenchanted and disappointed. The main reasons being that the HOP leadership is very entrenched and very opposed to any new ideas that might change the Pride week events. It's a RALLY period, It's a MARCH period that is our heritage and that's what it must remain -is what anyone will hear from HOP - that would be after any news dust settles.
One main problem is - IT ISN'T FUN it's the same thing year in and year out. Other cities around the world have made Pride a celelbration yes a party for ALL not just dancing boys. Yes there is a political element but it's celebration. It isn't a march where many of the groups are 3 people holding up a sign.
So rather than rail too much. Here are some suggestions that have been risen at HOP meeting and have been shot down.
Have a gathering to open the week. Make it the political statement of the issues facing LGBT people today. Have speakers. Ask the leather boys to move their street fair to another day. Get the speakers that people want to hear or hear from. Contact those that have been in the press re: the issues of the day. OR try something different - there are not a lack of ideas out there in one of the most creative cities in the workd.
Change the March to a Parade - make it and the day a celebration fot LGBT people and the city. Encourage floats from gay businesses, bring in some bands - get some of these young LGBT people in and listen - try out some of their ideas. Bring in people from gay businesses including lounges and bars from all the city not just one area - listen - try out some of their ideas.
There needs to be fundemantal change within and without the HOP group. Many of the issues and concerns in the article are valid or at least understandable but you can't address all of them. But people do like fun they like to celebrate and I think that would be a good starting point!
IT'S NOT ABOUT PRIDE, PEOPLE!
Pride is immaterial to the larger issue... The fact of the matter is that society (gay and straight and everybody) has become fractured by the Internet.
In every major city, organizations such as old-style clubs with club presidents, secretaries, newsletters and so forth are dying out and none are rising to replace them. Once somebody goes to Google to find out more about their hobby, then why would anybody need to pay for membership in a club in order to hope for the same information?
Gay gathering-places such as bars are dying away and new ones aren't appearing to become overnight smashes, as in the old days. In the old days, gay men NEEDED hankie codes in order to weed through 400 prospects in a crowded bar. Now, you leave your profile page online, and they contact you directly. Why go to a bar, when BEAR411, ADAM4ADAM, CRAIGSLIST and 10,000 other meeting-places have become better cruising-places?
A buddy of mine was bitching to me that Pride in our city is a drag, because folks are constantly trying to get his contact-information. I told him that this was because there was NO OTHER WAY to reach our community the rest of the year. We no longer read every issue of the gay rags any more, so we no longer can be counted on to convene at the same events as a community. Old-style fundraiser events attract very, very few people, because the rest of the folks are at home, in front of their computers and oblivious.
Frankly, I am old enough and set-in-my-old-ways enough to wish this would all stop happening and the Good Old Days would come back, but it's not going to happen. Gay Pride events, gay publications, gay ghettos and homogeneous gay culture are artifacts of a bygone era.
When I lived in NY in the 90's I attended the parade and events regularly and noticed a real decline. It went from a more "grass roots everyman/woman" type of event to one big advertisement.
If it's any consolation, the Pride Parade in Portland, OR has fallen into the same trap. A tame parade sponsored by Nike and other corporations, followed by a waterfront festival with overpriced carnival food/drink.
It's sad to say that it's really diverged from its purpose; the message and what the parade stands for has become diluted.
I think it’s a good show of support and solidarity especially in a world where in Moscow, the skinheads and police cracked a few skulls for their Gay Pride march, and in Jerusalem they needed police protection for their Gay Pride march due to threats from an ultra orthodox sect, and Eastern Europe as well as the Middle East and what is going on there with governmental actions against gays and lesbians there. It shows that we are everywhere, and not just drag queens and other types. Yes there is some silliness involved with the parade, because it’s a celebration, telling people who may not be out, that it’s alright to be what you are. And I’m generally a cynical person, just not as jaded as some. There are still haters at the parade, and they’re pissing on it. Do gay people have to as well?