It's Gay Pride Parade Time in Dallas - In a Couple of Weeks....

On the cusp of the Gay Pride Parade here in Dallas I always debate whether I will once again dress up in my leather in the gawd-awful Texas heat and traipse down Cedar Springs Ave. tossing beads and waving to the thousands of people who line the route.  It's hot and sweaty and sometimes makes me the target of taunts form the handful of protesters who come to hold hateful signs and sneer.

I also know that a lot of folks on the "A-Gay" list are appalled at the leathermen and leatherwomen who parade, as well as the drag queens and anyone else who looks atypical. These are the HRC crowd who believes we should assimilate and become the non-threatening straight-acting good citizens they show in their brochures and advertisements.

Now I understand it is easier to catch flies with honey, and true a lot of straight people might find images of drag queens, gender queers and leather folk disturbing.  OK, that's fine, but to try to cover up the diversity and "color" of our community does a disservice to the cause of equal rights.  We want equality not so we can look and act like straight people, but so we can be who we are and still enjoy full rights as citizens of the Unites States.

Now don't get me wrong, the Human Rights Campaign has done some good things and I support them, but I certainly would not want them to be the only face of the LGBT community.  That's why I support the Woodhull Freedom Foundation.  It's a growing organization that  has a simple and very catchy mission statement.

"Sexual freedom is a basic human right."

Wow!  Not marriage, not military service not politics but basic human rights?  Sexual freedom is a cause a whole lot f people can get behind.  Surprisingly the allies come from all parts of the sexual spectrum.  I think we need to consider why we are denied our rights.  It's because not of what we wear, but how and who we love. If we cannot be proud of our community and it's diversity, then we have missed the boat.  We are a sexual minority plain and simple and as such we will never "fit" the straight mold.

So what is the point of this rant?  Well, it's simply to let everyone know that if you go to the Parade in a couple of weeks, be prepared to see the real rainbow of who we are.  Also be prepared to have a good time and celebrate just how different we all can be while still embracing each other as community.