Posted on 08/29/2004 9:23:09 AM PDT by schaketo
CHAPEL HILL -- They came about 80 strong, held signs, marched and chanted. Just another day in Chapel Hill, right? Wrong. On Saturday, the town known for many marches in support of various causes and groups, saw a first: "The First Annual Heterosexual Pride Parade."
The event was sponsored by radio station G105's morning show, "The Showgram."
The show's host, Bob Dumas, talked about the purpose of the parade as participants gathered Saturday morning on the corner of Graham and West Franklin streets.
Dumas said the parade was being held in a positive spirit, something he had stressed on his show all week, and that it wasn't a protest against gay people.
"If you're going to come out and put down another group of people, don't come," Dumas said. "It's just more of a chance for heterosexuals to get out and have fun together.
"There ain't no angry people around here. We're just sweatin' because we're all chubby and hot," Dumas said.
The radio host said he had received calls from people who didn't think the parade should take place, including a gay rights group from Washington. Dumas indicated that he didn't appreciate people telling him what to do.
"The last time I checked, I didn't tell Jews how to celebrate Hanukkah ...," Dumas said.
Dumas and other participants wore bright red "Flaming Heterosexuals" stickers. Dumas also had "Heterosexuals for Bush" on the back of his T-shirt.
UNC senior Megan Cherveny, who described herself as bisexual, said she had participated in a Gay Pride March in New York and decided to march in the Heterosexual Pride Parade, too.
"At first, I thought it was mocking," Cheveny said, of the G105 parade.
But the station's promotion of the event as a positive celebration convinced her to come out, she said.
Cheveny said she did not find the term "flaming" offensive and that gay people used the term to describe themselves as flamboyant.
Paula Morris from Raleigh said there was "no malice intended whatsoever" in her participation.
"I'm black. We have black marches, gay marches. Why can't you have a heterosexual march?" Morris said.
Morris carried a sign with the words: "We're Straight. Don't Hate. We're Born This Way."
Mary Jane Taylor of Pittsboro said she wasn't there to make a protest against gay people.
"It's just saying I'm proud of who I am -- freedom of speech," Taylor said.
Some onlookers smiled and laughed. Others looked somewhat stunned and puzzled.
No protesters were seen along the route of the parade on Saturday.
"There were no problems," Chapel Hill Police Maj. Tony Oakley said Saturday. "We didn't expect any."
Ten police officers worked during the parade on Saturday.
But there was a group of protesters present. A group of about 12 UNC students, all gay, chose to be in the parade. They marched at the end of the group and carried signs that, taken literally, would be interpreted as supportive of the parade.
One of those students, Jessica Albrecht, carried a sign that called for the "legalization of opposite-sex marriage" but she said it was meant to be sarcastic, as were the other signs her group carried.
She said that she and other members of her group saw the Heterosexual Pride Parade as "a mockery" of gay people's efforts to be visible and be heard. Another student said he saw a 12-year-old child in the parade who carried a sign with a slash mark over a rainbow, a symbol used by gay people.
"Straight people don't need visibility. Every day is heterosexual pride day," Albrecht said.
"It's pretty much a radio gimmick," Albrecht said of the parade.
But the orgainizers of the Gay Pride parade are HIV+.
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