Posted on 06/27/2004 9:34:26 PM PDT by Lance Romance
Pride parade puts focus on politics
Politics hung as heavily over Sunday's Gay Pride activities as the leaden skies that dumped a 20-minute deluge as the Pride parade inched toward Piedmont Park.
The mood of parade participants and spectators alike was lighthearted, but at least six of the floats contained a direct message about gay marriage. Serious themes about equality and justice outnumbered the party floats by a wide margin among the more than 100 parade entries.
Georgians will vote in November on a state constitutional amendment to prohibit gay marriage and in the presidential and congressional elections.
Volunteers from Georgia Equality roamed the parade route asking spectators to register and to sign a pledge that they would vote in November. Organizers from the Human Rights Campaign also were on hand to press the festival's political theme.
For Michael Karr, 27, of Carrollton, the Equality=Justice theme of the event carried deep meaning. Karr and his partner of eight years, Jeff Bretheric, took vows in Gay Pride's annual commitment ceremony in 1996.
Karr and Bretheric said they are regular voters and both plan to vote against President Bush in the fall because of his stand against gay marriages. They are less certain who they will vote for closer to home, so they were paying close attention to the many state and local political candidates who rode in the parade and worked the rain-thinned crowd in Piedmont Park.
"This is a good place to get some ideas [about whom to vote for]," Bretheric said.
Claudia Sarden, 46, of Lithonia said she plans to be in the voting booth come November. But gay marriage wasn't the political issue foremost in her mind.
"This [Iraq] war needs to be resolved and resolved quickly," Sarden said.
Political candidates and gay advocates weren't the only ones working the park and parade route Sunday, however. Conservative religious groups also distributed leaflets urging gays and lesbians to give up their sexual practices.
Frank Bruyere of Greenwood, S.C., strolled Peachtree Street before and during the parade handing out fliers quoting the Bible as saying that homosexuality is "an abomination."
Bruyere said he had encountered little hostility as he distributed his fliers.
"We're Christians and we don't believe in condemning homosexuals," Bruyere said. "But the word of God does speak against homosexuality."
Some Gay Pride participants overlooked the politics to revel more in the personal.
Jordan Luke, 21, of Chattanooga attended "my very first" Gay Pride with a group of friends. Luke was inspired by the 90-minute parade.
"When I saw a couple of parents [in the parade] carrying a sign saying their son is gay and they still love him, that brought me to tears," Luke said.
Luke was among a group of parade spectators who waited out the rain in the lobby of Midtown's Wyndham hotel. While the skies thundered and poured, Luke helped entertain the refugees by playing a piano.
His first number was "The Impossible Dream" from the Broadway musical "Man of La Mancha."
"This is a good place to get some ideas [about whom to vote for]," Bretheric said.
Do you promise to love honor and cornhold till death do you part?
Big deal. clinton ignored the gay vote too. What else are they going to do but vote RAT? Other than the 'Log Cabin' Republicans (all 35 of them), there isn't another fruit bowl around that will house these voters.
Ah, gosh. Aint that sweet?
In other news, bears take dumps in the woods......
Illinois Republican State chair, Judy Baar Topinka was seen on riding a float down Chicago's parade, in order to pander to these people.
Karr and Bretheric said they are regular voters and both plan to vote against President Bush in the fall because of his stand against gay marriages.
I bet Bush is scared. These people probably won't be able to tell the difference between Nader and Kerry and will walk out of the voting booth without even voting because they will be so confused.
The fudge-packers can vote for Mao for all I care. Of course, were he elected, he would have had them all executed.
Bummer, there goes half of 1 percent that would not have voted for him anyways. If Bush loses the parapalegic, albino, transvestite vote, I don’t know what will happen.
"Bush Losing Gay Vote"
For a brief moment, I thought I might care, but as it turns out, it was just gas.
This is a non-story. These people have no intention of voting for Bush in the first place.
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