Why I do not participate in Pride parades

I know this post will be offensive to some. But, I am not posting things to make friends or enemies, but to only share my opinions. Please take it in with that spirit in mind.

Alot of gay people in Utah ask me why my husband and I do not participate in gay pride parades in Salt Lake. Well, to put it simply, I believe it is wrong.

Throughout history, God has called men and women to be advocates of truth and social justice. One of the most inspirational men I believe is Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He was a champion for equality, not just for Blacks, but for ALL Americans.

There is very, very little about Dr. King and his views on homosexuality. This is what I think he would say if he were alive today.

              1. He was a champion for civil rights. He stated, "I have a dream that one day my four little children will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character". I truly believe that gay people should be judge not by their outward appearance or sexual preference, but by their morality and conduct.

              2. Despite the controversy in church and society on same-gender marriage and/or unions, adoption of children by gay parents and for many the right of gay persons to be in same-gender intimate sexual relationships, King was unafraid to “speak out and stand up” for issues that for him were matters of conscience.

               3. He had an unyielding understanding of all human struggles, which were expressed in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail, written April 16, 1963. he stated, “injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”

  4. I believe that Dr. King would be outraged at the conservative movement in this country. For example, on March 11, 2008, Republican Oklahoma State Senator Sally Kern stated that "the gay agenda is more dangerous to this country than Muslim terrorism". What the ??????  Why is she not appauled at the fact that almost 78% of North Korea's people are starving and dying every day? Does she not care that in North Korea, the infant mortality rate is the highest in the world due to lack of food and medicine? Does she not care that so called "Christian" leaders in Africa have dozens of wives and are involved in widespread genocide, and female genital mutilation? Does she care that these leaders have openly passed laws to murder all gay people? Does she not have a problem with the Westboro Baptist Church burning the American flag and desecrating fallen heros who are killed in war?

I know of a man who did this sort of thing.....his name was Hitler.

I have a proposal to Sen. Kern: If you think that being gay is more dangerous than Muslim terrorism, I say you should become president. Then, you can withdraw all our troops out of Iraq and Afghanistan and have them go invade West Hollywood.

Anyways, I went off on a rant there. Sorry.

So why do I think gay pride parades are wrong? I have no objection to the parade itself. I have a serious objection however as to the style of the parade.

When Dr. King summoned his followers to march on Selma, in Birmingham, in Memphis, he told them to dress themselves in Sunday best and to "stand for integrity". King also stated, "the only true way for equality to prevail is through respectful action, and civilized dialogue". Well, as most of us know, the Utah Legislature (both House and Senate) are OVERWHELMINGY Mormon and Republican with strong anti-gay rights agendas.

 Part of the Pride parade and other "celebrations of gayness" is to protest in front of the Salt Lake LDS Temple, The LDS Church office building, and the state capitol. The vast majority of people who attend have very derogatory signs that desecrate the LDS religion and people. Most people show up wearing nothing but a pair of "Speedo" suits. They scream, rant and rave about how horrible the LDS Church and the Utah government are. Do you actually think that those in charge of making our laws are going to respond to this kind of action? I think they would more likely respond if all gay people marched peacefully, with respectful signs, and in our best clothes. Engage dialogue with your legislators not through a bullhorn and underwear, but instead by sitting down with them in a suit and tie and have respectful dialogue. This will help people to better understand us and our movement. The world already thinks that gays are "evil". They think we are child molesters, they think all we do is hookup for sex, and they think all we do is drink and do drugs. This is not the case.

Dr. King admonished his people not to live the sterotype. Sure, alot of them could not read, alot of them never went to school, almost all were poor. But Dr. King said, "raise yourself up out of ghetto! Show your pride for you who are!" He fought for the image of the Black person not to be one of ghetto living and violence, but of respect and mature conduct. Why not try the same with the gay community? I think next Pride parade, we should all dawn our Sunday best and march with respectful signs. We dont need virtually naked dancers and transvesties to prove our point....all we need is class.