Someone posed this question to me. If there are those who are sitting on the fence, who are unsure where they stand on gay rights or gay marriage, what message are we sending with gay pride. I am unsure about what pride is nationwide but the prides here locally involve men dressed up as nuns with nipple clips, or men chained by there "packages" and dragged around on leashes. I do support whatever lifestyle LGBT enjoy, and I do know that pride is one of the few opportunties to be fully open, but is that really the message we want those fence sitters to get?
Perhaps they don't realize that LGBT memebers are just people, and while the term lifestyle is used often, being gay is not a lifestyle to me. My lifestyle is the same as everyone else. I eat, grocery shop, work, go to class, go on dates that involve dinner and a movie, and desire nothing more than love and a life partner. I think pride allows people to confuse the issue of lifestyle, the person who asked me about this actually thought that is how many of us lived our lives. I personally don't own nimple clamps - perhaps I'm alone in this :P