Half-million crowd San Francisco route of gay-pride parade

The Seattle Times ^ | 7/1/02 | Margie Mason

[ppaul]

SAN FRANCISCO — Thousands of rainbows appeared under the blue sky yesterday as an estimated half-million people lined the streets to celebrate diversity and progress during the city's 32nd annual gay-pride parade.

The people were just as colorful as the flags they waved — gay, straight, young and old. Some wore leather or feathers or held balloons, while others sported little more than a smile.

The Dykes on Bikes, a rumbling motorcade of several hundred women on motorcycles, kicked off the event, followed by their quieter, male counterparts pedaling bicycles as part of the Mikes on Bikes.

But mixed in with the fun, the parade also had a serious side, outlining battles such as AIDS, domestic-partner benefits and hate crimes that still have a long way to go in the gay community's struggle to obtain equal rights.

Jean Fichtenkort, a lesbian from Berkeley, was there with her 16-month-old adopted son, Michael Heffner. She and her partner of 14 years have attended many parades, and she's thrilled they keep getting bigger.

"We're very fortunate to live here, and we know it," she said. "Little by little the changes are happening, and when he's an adult it's going to be nothing."

Actor Sir Ian McKellen, who starred in "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" and "Gods and Monsters," was one of the celebrity grand marshals in his first San Francisco parade.

Alice Hoglan marched in support of her son, Mark Bingham, who was believed to have helped thwart the terrorists on Sept. 11 aboard Flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania. A day earlier, Bingham's rugby team won the Bingham Cup, an international gay tournament held in his honor.

San Francisco wasn't the only city that closed off the streets to party. Celebrations were held across the nation, including in Seattle, New York, Chicago, Atlanta and Minneapolis.

Hundreds of thousands turned out for Chicago's 33rd annual parade, which marks the end of Gay and Lesbian Pride Month designated by Mayor Richard Daley.

In New York, Mayor Michael Bloomberg was applauded as he marched near the front of the parade.

"That's what makes New York so great, that everyone can live here and live here together, can build a career, can express themselves and can celebrate the greatness that is New York," he said.

Tens of thousands of spectators lined the Fifth Avenue parade route to cheer the marchers.

Fifty same-sex couples kicked off the parade with a mass wedding at Fifth Avenue and Central Park South. The ceremony, performed by clergy of several faiths, was not legally binding but served as a rallying point for activists who would like to see gay couples accorded the same rights as heterosexual couples.

More HERE.

[ppaul]

Jean Fichtenkort, a lesbian from Berkeley, was there with her 16-month-old adopted son, Michael Heffner. She and her partner of 14 years have attended many parades, and she's thrilled they keep getting bigger.

"We're very fortunate to live here, and we know it," she said. "Little by little the changes are happening, and when he's an adult it's going to be nothing."

Every major city in the US is getting in on this massive circle-jerk, and the perverts are bringing their adopted children along for the "fun."
And, we call this progress?

[AppyPappy]

Some wore leather or feathers or held balloons, while others sported little more than a smile.

Just like normal people.

[irish guard]

Aw c'mon...nothing more fun for junior than to watch the fudgepackers do the elephant walk in public!

[clintonh8r]

May "Sodom by the Sea" be first into the drink when the big one hits.

[Dakmar]

All the while shouting how it's not just about sex, no doubt.

[LarryLied]

A few years back, I applied to be a vendor at San Francisco's Gay Pride Parade. At the top of the application was a notice that sites were limited and first priority would go to gays and their family members.

[ppaul]

So did you list yourself as "gay"?
nyuk, nyuk, nyuk!

[Darth Reagan]

to celebrate diversity and progress

And this is an AP story. I bet this is the same media that claims to be impartial and objective. Objectively, these people were parading to celebrate their particular predilection for a certain type of SEX. Nothing more. Certainly nothing to take your children to!

[Darth Reagan]

A few years back, I applied to be a vendor at San Francisco's Gay Pride Parade. At the top of the application was a notice that sites were limited and first priority would go to gays and their family members.

I wonder if these people are still fighting for laws to prevent discrimination based on sexual orientation? That could really screw up the bath houses if frat boys decided to start holding beer bashes there with sorority girls.

[Interesting Times]

These homosexual activists just seem so... so intolerant.

[Redcloak]

Perhaps he trotted out that old line from Stripes.

[ppaul]

Blue pride at this parade

BY TANYA PAMPALONE AND ADAM SANDEL
Special to The Examiner

It wasn't drag queens in pink taffeta or shirtless dykes on motorbikes that got the most applause at Sunday's Pride Parade -- it was the men and women in blue. This year, the San Francisco Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender Pride Parade ushered in a new era, with the 1 million-strong Market Street crowd cheering long and loud for the uniformed gay police officers and sheriffs who marched hand in hand with their partners.

More here:

Just a few weeks ago, officers in uniform -- gay or not -- would not have been a welcome sight at the 27th annual parade.

Gays have clashed violently with police over the years. New York's vicious Stonewall Riots gave birth to the parade, and gay San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk was killed by former police officer Dan White.

But the animosity was transformed with the recent death of Officer Jon Cook, The City's first openly gay policeman to die in the line of duty. Cheers of appreciation for SFPD's finest drowned out the voices of those in the gay community who believe that gay and lesbian officers should not wear their uniforms in the parade.

Not everyone was glad to see the cops, though.

As a sign of increased security throughout the event, police say there were more officers on duty Sunday than when the pope came to town. "This is the first year I've done this and I won't do it again," said one cop on the Civic Center Plaza beat. "I got spit on."

But the parade marched on. Politicians waved, whip-cracking leather daddies strutted, shirtless dykes rode their motorbikes and scantily clad muscle boys in red and white gyrated to techno beats.

Proud bisexuals carried signs that read, "You can have it all" and "All the fun and twice the attention."

PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) marchers displayed their family values and same-sex parents marched with tots in strollers, carrying banners on the legalization of same-sex marriage.

While some in the gay community resent the presence of big business at these events, corporate sponsors proved they know how to play to the crowd.

The rainbow-colored, confetti-shooting Smirnoff Twist float featured a rainbow-swathed drag queen and 30 shirtless dancers bumping and grinding as others passed out flavored lip balm to the crowd.

The paradegoers gradually packed into the Civic Center celebration area for grilled sausages and garlic fries.

Vendors were hawking everything from your name on a grain of rice to the Scientology tome "Dianetics" -- you could even get a "Botox Pride Special."

Naked gay men walked alongside straight couples in various phases of undress, and transsexuals in platinum wigs and five-inch platform heels danced to music blaring from performance stages.

But the diverse celebrants who mobbed Market Street and the Civic Center did have something in common. Nearly all of them were on cellphones saying, "Where are you?"

[LarryLied]

So did you list yourself as "gay"?

I may not have many but I do have some standards. The answer is HELL NO!

[Bryan24]

They were there to watch the circus. What a bunch of deviants.

[FreeTally]

uniformed gay police officers and sheriffs who marched hand in hand with their partners.

Cool! Get their names and badge numbers so if you ever get pulled over, you can threaten to sue them for sexual harassment. I mean, can the cop prove he didn't offer to tear up the ticket if you blew him?

[45Auto]

Recent Studies on Homosexuality and Mental Health

By Dale O'Leary

In its October 1999 issue, Archives of General Psychiatry published some very intriguing research on the relationship between homosexuality and mental-health problems, reopening a very controversial subject.

Suicide Attempts. In a twin study, Herrell et al found that men with same-sex partners were 6.5 times as likely as their co-twins to have attempted suicide. The higher rate was not explained, however, by the subjects' mental-health or substance-abuse disorders.

Mental-Health Problems. The second article reported on a New Zealand study which followed 1007 individuals since birth. At age 21, the 28 subjects classified as gay, lesbian or bisexual were significantly more likely to have had mental-health problems than the 979 classed as heterosexual.

In a commentary, J. Bailey, who has published a number of studies on homosexuality, wrote:

Several reactions to the new studies are predictable:

First, some mental health professionals who opposed the successful 1973 referendum to remove homosexuality from DSM-III will feel vindicated.

Second, some social conservatives will attribute the findings to the inevitable consequences of the choice of a homosexual lifestyle.

Third, in stark contrast to the other two positions, many people will conclude that widespread prejudice against homosexual people causes them to be unhappy, or worse, mentally ill.

Commitment to any of these positions would be premature, however, and should be discouraged. In fact, a number of potential interpretations of the findings need to be considered, and progress toward scientific understanding will be achieved only by eliminating competing explanations.

After looking at a number of other explanations, Bailey concludes,

It is unlikely that any one of these models will explain all of the differences in the psychopathology between homosexual and heterosexual people. Perhaps social ostracism causes gay men and lesbians to become depressed, but why would it cause gay men to have eating disorders? Two things are certain, however.

First, more research is needed to understand the fascinating and important findings of Fergusson et al and Herrell et al.

Second, it would be a shame, most of all for gay men and lesbians whose mental health is at stake, if socio-political concerns prevented researchers from conscientious consideration of any reasonable hypothesis.

What can we learn from these studies?

First, they confirm previous research on the relatively low incidence of homosexuality in the general population. The incidence was 2.8% of the 1007 subjects in the New Zealand study (20 people who self-identified as gay, lesbian, or bisexual and eight others who reported same-sex experience after age 16). Of the 6,537 men in the Herrell et al study, only 120 reported any same-gender partners (1.8%).

Second, contrary to claims made by gay activists, homosexually active persons as a group appear to be less psychologically healthy than the general population.

Even if these problems could be proven to originate solely from social oppression which created internalized homophobia, as claimed by gay activists, this question would remain: "What is the proper response?"

If homosexual attraction were an untreatable, unchangeable condition, then treating internalized homophobia would be the only remedy; but given the evidence that homosexual attraction may be preventable, and that homosexuality can in many cases (though certainly not all) be successfully treated in adulthood--then given the risks associated with homosexual attraction, shouldn't the public be fully informed of the options?

References:

"Sexual Orientation and Suicidality," Archives of General Psychiatry, Oct. 1999, Vol. 56, No. 10, pages 867 - 888. Related articles in the same issue were:

"A Co-twin Control Study in Adult Men" by R. Herrell, J. Goldberg, W. True, V. Ramakrishnan, M. Lyons, S. Eisen, M. Tsuang.

"Is Sexual Orientation Related to Mental Health Problems and Suicidality in Young People?" by D. Fergusson, L. Horwood, A. Beautrais.

"Homosexuality, Psychopathology, and Suicidality," R. Friedman.

Suicide and Sexual Orientation," G. Remafedi.

"Homosexuality and Mental Illness," J. Bailey.

[skeeter]

Well, how many people attended - a million or half million? How about 50 thousand?

The media's propaganda is approaching Stalanist preportions.

All intended to make you feel that you're the odd one for thinking a guy in seatless chaps whipping another guy on all fours & sporting a collar is abnormal.

[ppaul]

More likely, he'd be the one making the offer to "service."

[FreeTally]

More likely, he'd be the one making the offer to "service."

Either way, it may be worth a couple hundred thousand dollars. ;-) (Not that I am advocating abuse of the judicial system)