COWman's Corner of the Web

This weekend is the annual GLBTQ Pride celebration here in the great town of Columbus, and I am not going......

I've come up with lots of reasons why I'm not going, such as 1) I need to study for the NCLEX (but that is still a week and a half away), or 2) Buster is out of town, and I don't want to go alone (but a group of people from work is going, as well as groups of friends from other places will be going). Okay, so maybe the first reason is somewhat valid, but it's not like I could not spare a few hours to do out and celebrate.

Actually, I've come to the understanding of the real reason behind my not going: these parades annoy me. There I said it, I do not like Pride. If that makes me a bad f*g, then so be it. Yes, any straight readers, even some of us are annoyed by the jockstrap wearing leather-daddies, the extra large (in height and/or weight) drag queens, and all the other walking, talking stereotypes on display. I fully support them if that is what they want to do, and I am glad that they feel comfortable enough in their own skins to walk down the middle of the street at noon. But what is missing from these parades are the gay men like me. Where are the images of the boring, "married" f*gs who have simple homes in the suburbs (and not lavish townhomes decorated to the nines), who go to work, pay taxes, shop at Macy's (not those uber-chic little shops in the trendy part of town) and all the other boring little things in life?

Also, it seems that Pride has simply become another excuse to have a party with lots of loud dance music, body glitter, and alcohol. I mean, come on, am I the only gay man out there who pays attention to the news? Look at where we are as a community, the Republican party is using us to scare voters and they want to change the constitution to discriminate against us. We are still losing friends/families/lovers to HIV/AIDS and the rates of new infection are climbing, especially in our younger members. Crystal meth and other drugs are killing us too. GLBTQ teens are still killing themselves at higher rates than their straight counterparts. We are still in physical danger when we walk the streets. Hell, the military still classifies homosexuality as a mental illness, 30 some years after the APA stopped. True, we've made advances over the last 25-30 years, but I'm not sure we've come far enough to justify all this partying.

Okay, time to shut off the evil, bitchy queen mode. There are some NCLEX review questions calling my name..........