Court ruling gives Pride Parade an extra spark (Houston Texas gay pride parade)

Houston Chronicle ^ | June 28, 2003, 11:40PM | By ROBERT CROWE

[weegee]

Ben Desoto/Chronicle Houstonians crowd the sidewalk and roof of Mary's at the 25th annual Houston Pride Parade on Saturday night in the Montrose area. Around 150,000 people attended.

[weegee]

More on Mary's:

Zipping Up Mary's - A local landmark for gay sex and social activism closes after 32 years

[weegee]

I've been to the Westheimer street festival in past years but did not want to be construed as a "participant" in the Gay Pride Parade. The WSF was co-opted this year by being united with the Gay Pride event.

The parade numbers are inflated dramatically as a result.

I drove through the neighborhood to make some photocopies this afternoon and deliver some papers to someone nearby.

The "Get Lubed!" trashboxes were all that I needed to know. The parade route was lined with these trashcans that were sponsored by a sex lube company. Ick.

[Joe Boucher]

I'm so tired of hearing about fags. They don't deserve special rights. They are perverts and the supreme court is wrong.

[yankeedame]

The Texas legislature didn't put this now recinded law on the books out of boredom, or spite. I predict that before too long folks will come to rue the day this law was repealed. As the famous legal writer William Blackstrone advised: Before you repeal a law find out why it was passed in the first place.

[Salman]

which marks the 34th anniversary of a New York City bar riot that sparked the modern gay rights movement.

What really happened at Stonewall:

Although gay clubs were explicitly illegal at the time, Mayor Lindsay had an unofficial policy of not enforcing that law in the West Village. The gay folks in the Stonewall bar therefore had a reasonable expectation of being left alone.

Thr reason the cops showed up at the Stonewall was because the Mafioso who owned the place was blackmailing some of his customers. The cops were responding to a complaint against the owner, who wasn't gay himself, and showed up to arrest him.

The patrons of the Stonewall assumed incorrectly that the cops were there to bust them, and responded violently. The cops responded likewise.

And so was born the "gay rights" movement as we know it, though it existed before.

Do a google on "Harry Hay", and "Mattachine Society".

[azhenfud]

This asinine ruling by the senile seven proves again the loss in 1865 of states' rights will be the ruin of this nation.

[aristeides]

Linda Greenhouse in the New York Times agrees with me that the Supreme Court vacated the Kansas court's conviction of Limon (for sodomizing a 14-year-old boy) and that it told the Kansas court to reconsider both the conviction and the sentence in light of Lawrence. Justices Extend Decision on Gay Rights and Equality.

[azhenfud]

"Destroying America from within."

These seven are the AXIS of EVIL.

[slasher82]

Agreed. Although the problem is nationwide, we saw it firsthand in Houston. I'm soooooo glad my wife/children and I moved from there in Feb. 03 to a beautiful state where we plan to "sink in our roots" for good. YAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!! My sons and I "high five" all the time now.... That place was a sespool of immoralites and whiners.(no offense intended to other decent Houstonians because there are some, we just slowly became disgusted in general over time.) Later Joe.

[Desdemona]

"We're getting closer and closer to gay liberation," said Angela Flores, 23, a spectator. "I just want to be able to come out at work and not be worried about it."

Social acceptance and morality cannot be legislated or spun out of bench law, Ms. Flores. Please, stay in the closet, no one will think the less of you, but opinions will change if you flaunt your "sexual orientation" on our faces. No, thank you.

[Ganymede]

Everyone's reactions here are . . . well . . . so dramatic. Uh . . . the "evil gays" are going to get you . . . . watch out . . . this is the end . .. .we so fraid . . . boo!

[Imagine]

Homosexuality is deviant sexual behavior and a mental illness.

Homosexuals: 1) subject their body parts to uses nature did not intend, such activities often presenting immediate risk to the participants; 2) are prone to greater suicide, depression and other mental disorders and deficiencies than the heterosexual population at large; 3) are prone to far greater sexually transmitted diseases, including AIDS, than the (normal) heterosexual population; 4) molest young people (pedophilia) at a far greater rate than heterosexuals; 5) engage in degrading sexual promiscuity, oftentimes engaging in risky sex with many partners during the same event; 6) are engaged in aggressive and widespread efforts to indoctrinate our children by introducing the homosexual lifestyle using public schools as the primary indoctrination “vehicle” and likewise, through the movie/music/TV industry, with the dual goals of gaining school-age acceptance of homosexuality and encouraging sexual activity among children, especially same-sex experimentation; 7) view most everything through a mindset heavily biased in favor of the homosexual lifestyle and culture, which renders them mostly useless when asked to opine on matters that normal heterosexuals better resolve.

The mental deficiencies described herein applying to homosexuals shall not be confused with the deficiencies associated with the left wing democrat/socialist/marxist/ feminist/environmentalist minds, etc., which have their own distinct set of mental disorders.

This doesn't even touch on what the Bible has to say about homosexuality.

[AntiGuv]

Linda Greenhouse is wrong. Period. Which partly explains why she's a journalist and not a lawyer. As this Washington Post article makes clear:

Gay Rights Ruling Affects Kan. Case

The Supreme Court announced yesterday the first ripple effect of its landmark decision on gay rights, ordering a Kansas court to reconsider its approval of a 17-year sentence meted out to an 18-year-old man for having consensual sex with a 14-year-old boy.

Without comment or published dissent, the court vacated the Kansas Court of Appeals' ruling last year that Matthew Limon's sentence was constitutional even though the same conduct between two persons of different sexes would have received a far lighter penalty under Kansas law.

In fact, as that excerpt makes clear, there was never even a slightest question of vacating the original conviction, because the Kansas ruling under appeal itself only dealt with the constitutionality of the sentence disparity. To reiterate yet again, the conviction has not been vacated no matter how many ways you figure out to suggest otherwise.

[Houmatt]

Hey, now, Rehnquist, Scalia and Thomas did not agree with that. Don't paint them all with the same brush. There are still people there who realize and understand what the primary purpose of SCOTUS is, and it is not to legislate from the bench.

[MarMema]

Both my husband and I work in Seattle, home of the gay movement on the west coast.

They had a gay pride parade here and my husband's place of employment put out a memo, encouraging people to march in the parade and offering free tshirts to those who did.

[azhenfud]

"Everyone's reactions here are . . . well . . . so dramatic. Uh . . . the "evil gays" are going to get you . . . . watch out . . . this is the end . .. .we so fraid . . . boo!"

Nah, the "evil gays" aren't gonna get anyone. We just don't agree the SCOTUS has the right to force the phaggot agenda on people who detest their behavior - esp. when in direct violation of religious convictions.

[azhenfud]

The senile seven would do well to stick to cases of constitutionality - not morality (or lack thereof).