Gay Pride Parade: Celebrating Tolerance
By rivory | June 28th, 2009 | Category: Featured |by Richard Ivory
New Yorkers at noon will fill the streets of Manhattan to celebrate gay pride and the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots in 1969. Today is a reminder that gay rights and tolerance continue to be a challenge.
The original purpose of the annual parade is to commemorate the riots at the Stonewall Inn, a popular gay and lesbian bar in the Greenwich Village. During the last weekend of June of 1969, New York City police entered the Stonewall Inn to look for violations of alcohol control laws. They proceded to make homophobic comments and then threw the patrons out of the bar.
It was the usual police treatment there, but that weekend was the last night that patrons would take it quietly. Instead of just going home, someone uprooted a parking meter, and used it to barricade the door trapping the police inside. In turn the police wrecked the bar and called in reinforcements. Chaos began as the crowd grew and more police came. Someone set a fire starting a three-day protest of people chanting ” Gay Power”.
Gay rights continue to be an issue in America and world. The black community along with many Republicans find issues such as gay marriage difficult to accept. Even with the challenges of gay rights, tolerance is moving forward. Today Poland reports getting its first openly gay rabbi. Indians in New Dehli are marching like their New York counterparts despite cultural norms and bias.
While the celebration may begin and end today, people must remember that tolerance and civil rights are issues that must be respected everyday. It is American and Republican to support human dignities regardless of race or sexuality.
Richard Ivory is the founder of HipHopRepublican.com, a centrist blog that delves into urban issues from the Republican/Libertarian perspective
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Agreed 100%.
the treatment of anyone disrespectfully should never be tolerated but please tolerate my belief that gay is a choice and marriage is between a man and a woman. I believe the federal gov’t has no right to get involved in the issue unless a constitutional amendment is passed either way.
Guarantee that my church will not ave to choose between losing its tax status or marrying a gay couple and I might change my mind.
If gay marriage is allowed then polygamy should be allowed.
Will conservative objections to same sex marriage equality ever evolve beyond completely bone-headed objections like this: if gun rights are allowed why then murder should be allowed!
Well no, actually, you epic maroon, murder should not be allowed. Most people are actually able to own a gun without shooting everyone they encounter. Equally most people are able to conceptualize same sex unions without the corresponding irrational fear that all men will then be compelled to marry sheep and other animal species. How stupid is this line of thinking, frankly?
There is NO good reason to prevent loving same sex couples from enjoying the legal and social rights that accrue from marriage equality. None. You may not like it; you may not agree with it; but guess what your own personal opinion isn’t the same thing as offering a compelling argument why it should never occur.
It already does occur, in any case. And the sky has not fallen.
And to you mouth breathers who say being gay is a choice, I say prove it. Or do shut up.
Ryan,
Wow…Thats a mouthful!
There are actualy gay people who do not agree with gay marriage as there are straight people who oppose straight marriage. There are many liberals that see “the nuclear” notion of the family as a fraud..so why join in?
Also most marriage laws in the nation were promoted by conservatives, many other conservatives howver saw a problem with this noting that when teh state starts issuing out marriage licences it gets to define what a marriage is, and at some point that could change. So many conservatives held that goverment should stay out of marriage all together accept for extreme cases. Marriage and folks joining together as a couple predates the State and so does gay relationships. The question is goverment recongintion and the privlidges that come with it. Many conservatives and gay conservatives argue its “these privledges or rights” while helpful to couples they could find other ways to maintan there relationships with out the help of uncle sam. This would be true for straight and gay couples.
There are no gay people who agree that they should have fewer legal rights than heterosexuals.
That’s an absurd piece of distracting ad hominem. You’ll have to do better than that if you’re in the business of defending blatant discrimination. And if you’re in the business of defending blatant discrimination does that also extend to discrimination based on race, sex, orientation and nationality? I bet not. Conservative discrimination usually only extends toward the persons or groups they personally dislike.
The argument in favor of marriage equality for gay people is quite simple: either we all have the same rights or no one has them.
That’s why same sex marriage will defeat the forces of discrimination and naked bigotry arraigned against them. Because we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
The day is already here. Just some people haven’t noticed yet.