Pride cannot be 'family friendly'

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Thursday, September 06, 2012
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Leicester Mercury

In a First Person column, Ian Robson, of the LGBT Centre, argues events such as Saturday's Leicester Pride are needed to raise awareness of lesbian, gay, bisexual transgender communities and prevent discrimination.

Discrimination such as denying someone a home or job because of their race or gender or sexual orientation is an evil, but there is a world of difference between unjust discrimination and the rights of people to hold opposing views.

His depiction of the victimhood of the LGBT movement, as helpless before every discrimination going, is not completely accurate.

If it is a victim, it has sharp teeth and it knows its prey. Under its influence Catholic adoption agencies have closed, hoteliers with Christian values have been brought to the brink of bankruptcy, Christian fire-fighters demoted and forced into diversity retraining for refusing to take part in a Pride march, and the idea of marriage as uniquely a relationship between a man and a woman has been brought to ridicule and disrepute.

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Leicester Pride was described in a second article in Saturday's Mercury as family-friendly.

There is more to family friendliness than having fairground attractions and bunting.

This is the only event in Leicester where men parade around in sexually-suggestive garb and the only event which anticipates, recognises and celebrates sexual licence.

Anyone taking part is endorsing that philosophy, whether knowingly or not.

I do not see therefore how it could ever be described as family-friendly. I think chastity and modesty are better examples to give to children of whatever age.

Francisca Martinez, Leicester.

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  • Profile image for freakspider

    by freakspider

    Saturday, September 08 2012, 4:16PM

    “I'm heterosexual, my teenage kids are heterosexual, and yet we have been attending Pride events all over the country since they were toddlers. They are both now well rounded, accepting, understanding and amazing kids, and we didn't go on one single fairground ride! They have been raised around many homosexual/lesbian family friends for their whole lives, and would agree with me in thinking that these types of opinions are the one of the reasons that bigotry in this country is still rife...!!!”

  • Profile image for Itsamadworld

    by Itsamadworld

    Saturday, September 08 2012, 1:14PM

    “I am not gay, but I was happy to take my nine year old daughter; teaching her tolerance of difference is an important life lesson. For the record, we both had a great time.”

  • Profile image for mam35

    by mam35

    Saturday, September 08 2012, 1:02PM

    “Francesca sayss..."I do not see therefore how it could ever be described as family-friendly. I think chastity and modesty are better examples to give to children of whatever age."

    I disagree, making children aware is the best option, your children accepting others differences is extremely important in their upbringing. I dont see any harm at all with the pride parade, i would happily take my children :/”

  • Profile image for redcat

    by redcat

    Saturday, September 08 2012, 12:48PM

    “by AmandaDSFriday, September 07 2012, 7:46PM
    Its all very well to say 'we don't have a Straight Parade why do they need a Gay one?', well of course not, heterosexuals have always their your civil rights and how nice that is for you, but the same is not true for some of the minorities in society, so please take a moment to remember that the next time you see a Rainbow flag."
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    AmandaDS I get the impression from your post you are thinking that any negative comments on here are posted by heterosexuals and any positive by members of the LGBT community. Personally I don't think -and I hope not- that this is true. I am straight but I fully support the Pride march and the rights of everyone within all societies to be accepted and celebrated for who they are without prejudice or fear of reprisals.”

  • Profile image for AmandaDS

    by AmandaDS

    Friday, September 07 2012, 7:52PM

    “Sorry for posting twice.”

  • Profile image for AmandaDS

    by AmandaDS

    Friday, September 07 2012, 7:46PM

    “What a lot of nonsense. The fact is that the LGBT community enjoy celebrating the fact that we have our civil rights, this was not always the case. And don't think that we are just marching for ourselves, there are still Gay and Lesbian people living in other countries who would be stoned to death for so much as thinking of coming out, never mind having a Parade. They deserve the same liberty we enjoy in our daily lives.

    Its all very well to say 'we don't have a Straight Parade why do they need a Gay one?', well of course not, heterosexuals have always their your civil rights and how nice that is for you, but the same is not true for some of the minorities in society, so please take a moment to remember that the next time you see a Rainbow flag.”

  • Profile image for AmandaDS

    by AmandaDS

    Friday, September 07 2012, 4:59PM

    “""This is the only event in Leicester where men parade around in sexually-suggestive garb and the only event which anticipates, recognises and celebrates sexual licence."

    ...but its okay for women to parade in the same outfits during other local festivals? Nice double standards.

    Pride is a celebration of how far LGBT rights have come and how we continue to fight for equality. It is easy for the heterosexual community to question the need for a Pride Parade when they take their civil rights for granted, having always had the right to marry, co-habit, legally have a physical relationship with their partner and show affection in public without the fear of beaten. Thankfully some of these issues are behind us now, and that is worth celebrating.”

  • Profile image for kramstan

    by kramstan

    Friday, September 07 2012, 3:50PM

    “You tend to have a lot of these "little thoughts" on these forums don't you City_10
    ? Perhaps the reason there is a Gay Pride and not a "Straight Pride" is because for years the LGBT community have had to fight an enduring (and thankfully successful) battle to have the freedom to celebrate their own identity without fear of hatred, bigotry and discrimination. Straight people are able to celebrate this every day of the week without such fear. I would say you only need to walk around the streets of Leicester on a Friday and Saturday night and you will see a "straight pride" celebration right before your very eyes! Judging by your frequent posts here City_10, in your mind all minority groups are getting preferential treatment to the exclusion of the majority. Have you ever thought why minority groups get treated differently? I'll give you a clue City_10, equality isn't always about treating everybody exactly the same.”

  • Profile image for City_C10

    by City_C10

    Thursday, September 06 2012, 10:08PM

    “I have no problems with gay, bisexual (etc) people at all, but we do not have a heterosexual march day do we? So therefore, are the gay, bisexual people getting preferential treatment having theses marches?

    It is just a thought…”

  • Profile image for cally222

    by cally222

    Thursday, September 06 2012, 8:14PM

    “You're very narrow-minded. I was at the event all day and did not see anything that was unsuitable for children. The thing that I love about Pride as people feel like they can be themselves, however unusual people like you may find this. There wasn't any nudity, and considering there was up to 15,000 people there throughout the day, you'd expect a little nudity, but no, there wasn't any. As for the comments about men parading around in "sexually-suggestive garb," you really need to lighten up. Some people express themselves differently to you, and they weren't doing anything obscene or displaying nudity- so what's your problem?
    Further to this, kids who see the world for all of its glory are much more likely to grow up with a better view of the world and be more tolerant of different cultures and social backgrounds etc. Surely that'd make the world a much better place for the future?”

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