Eek! The City of London Is All Gay-ified!

Well, if you haven't heard by now that the City of London has decided to make an official proclaimation for Gay Pride Week along with flying the rainbow flag at City Hall then I guess the homophobes haven't gotten to you yet.

After an over decade long ban on all proclaimations the City of London decided to do what it wouldn't in 1995, declare Pride in London.

For those you who don't remember, Diane "Parachute" Haskett refused to declare Gay Pride many moons ago because of personal religious beliefs. She (along with the City of London) were brought before a Human Rights Tribunal and found guilty. Since then the response of City Hall is to not declare ANYTHING. That's nice, isn't it?

Anyway, they decided that this year would be the year that they final start acknowledging that London does indeed have an active gay community. It's hard to ignore this community when the hatred towards them is as pronounced as it is in the city.

Well, as soon as they decided they were going to declare Pride the homophobes and homo-prejudice started coming out of the wood work.

And with them they brought along their tired-ass excuses.

Seriously, if I hear ONE MORE TIME the excuse of "Well, I'm just waiting for the day they declare Heterosexual Week" heads are going to roll.

Ok, here it is...I want everyone to listen.

EVERY WEEK IS HETEROSEXUAL WEEK.

The day that straight couples get beat with baseball bats and lead pipes in front of Jim Bob Ray's Bar while being called "breeders" is the day I'll ask for a Heterosexual Week.

I don't think it's too much to ask to give the gay community a week in which they can celebrate being themselves. Especially when the other 51 weeks out of the year it's fairly dangerous to do so, especially in London.

And I'm really sick and tired of people complaining about the blatant sexuality that is present during Pride, most notably during the Pride Parade.

Again, let's get our thinking caps on, shall we?

If you were told for pretty much your entire life that you were not allowed to hold hands with your partner, kiss, cuddle, throw an arm around or generally be affectionate in public would you maybe over compensate during the one week when it's not so taboo?

And really people, I think we're all just stick in the muds when it comes to sexuality. Calm yourselves, it's only glitter and spandex.

I see more disgusting displays at Masonville Mall in front of SilverCity. And those are the little 12 and 13 year olds...maybe we should be talking about our over sexualizing little girls? Nooooo, having underwire in a training bra is perfectly normal!

I will love, Love, LOVE the day when this city starts getting riled up about things that actually matter rather than spew homo-prejudice bullshit.

She Had The Moves

Ok, so the final act was this woman.

Miss Heaven Lee Hights.

Yes, you read that right.

And she OWNED that stage.

And I'm not just saying that because she had a number that was a medley of Pussycat Doll songs.

Although when I saw her perform "I Don't Need A Man" I really did believe she didn't need one.

That, and she had a rocking ass.

A Bit More Experience

Ok, so Miss Nicolette Brown took to the stage after Honey.

She definitely had great banter with the audience and chose some older tunes, ending with the crowd pleasing "Last Dance" by gay icon Donna Summer.

And her outfit made her look like a mermaid.

Miss Toronto Pride 2007

Ok, so one thing that I do love is the drag shows.

No matter if they are kings or queens, they're always a good show.

On the surface it's fun to watch them lip sync to songs you love.

On the other hand it's a beautiful commentary on gender-bending. Virtually poking fun and taking over this idea of gender. What is feminine? What is masculine? If you're a man can you be feminine? If you're a woman can you be masculine? Shouldn't we feel like we can explore both sides, given that everything within ourselves relies of perfect harmony?

Miss Toronto Pride 2007 kicked it off with a performance that showed her relative newness to the medium of drag. Still, she killed a performance of Beyoncé's "Ring the Alarm". A song that I hate Beyoncé singing, but liked Miss Brown doing. Very nice!

It's A Bird, It's A Plane!

No-

It's SUPER PRIDE!

Pascal donned his peace Pride flag, bandanna and "This is What a Feminist Looks Like" T-Shirt.

In his off days he enjoys keeping Toronto subway stations safe, for all.

Promo At Toronto Pride 2007

As we were walking down Church St. we saw this advertisment for Botox Cosmetics.

That's right. At Pride.

Hey! Let's perpetuate the stereotype that all gay men are obessed with youthful looks, including washboard abs and wrinkle free faces. Ugh.

While we're at it let's also keep up the façade of lesbians who are more concerned with softball and sport bras.

Double ugh.

I'm really quite sick of the stereotypes tha we put the GLBTTQ2 community into constantly. It seems that we (collective society) are more comfortable with our gay men effeminate and weak and our gay women butch and straight forward. Anything in between and we don't know what to think. And let's not even get into what we expect people who are bisexual are "supposed" to be like.

Live and let live, people.

TORONTO PRIDE 2007!

WOOHOO!

This past weekend I went to Toronto Pride 2007 with Andrea and Pascal (two very good buddies!).

We had a blast!

We caught the last end of the Pride Parade...same stuff as last year, half naked people, rainbows galore, and beads, glorious beads!

We then hopped a barricade and walked the rest of the parade route and found ourselves at Church Street. We walked down Church Street and as we walked farther and farther...it got more and more crowded. Suffocatingly so. Shoulder to shoulder.

Now, for those of you who know me, I don't like being touched. So this was pretty bad.

Add in:

It was about 100 degrees

My strawberry smoothy was dripping on my fingers

The loop of Village People music coming from Sailor

The nakedness

I was uncomfortable.

But, we had a blast! And we caught some drag queen and king shows. An incredible energy the whole time, sandwiched in with great people and cold, cold drinks.

If you've never been to Pride (anywhere, really) you must, must, MUST go. Gay, straight or questioning Pride is one of the most wonderful environments ever!

London Pride is having its 25th Anniversary at the end of July! W00T!