OLDIE, BUT GOODIE: ¿BLACK GAY PRIDE A DEEPER LOVE?

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AS I SIT AND REREAD THIS ENTRY, THE FIRST THING THAT COMES TO MIND IS: DID BLACK PRIDE FOUND ITS REAL TRUE MEANING OR…? I KNOW MANY WOULD SAY THAT I AM BEING A HATER & I AM TRYING TO RAIN ON EVERYONE’S PARADE, BUT ISN’T TIME SOMEONE STARTING DOING THAT TO THE PARTY? I MEAN LIFE ISN’T ONE BIG PARTY & I AM A FIRM BELIEVER THAT YOU GET WHAT YOU PUT INTO LIFE; & IF ALL THAT THIS EVENT REPRESENTS A SEX FEST THEN WHAT DO WE EXPECT TO GET @ THE END OF THE DAY?

According to http://www.inthelifeatl.com/ today marks the 12th Annual Atlanta Black Gay Pride Celebration. This even is said to be THE WORLD’S LARGEST PRIDE CELEBRATION FOR BLACK LESBIAN, GAY, BISEXUAL & TRANSGENDER PEOPLE. Although this celebration may be a significant one for the GAY community, I can’t help but to wonder how AND why this positive celebration is overshadowed by the negative things that take place? 

A friend of mine asked me the other day if I was going to Atlanta this year for pride and I told him NO, I did NOT see a reason for me being there and I didn’t feel that I needed to be a place that showed me that pride is about a social gathering for getting drunk AND having sex with each other. As angry as this makes me, it saddens me more than anything else because Atlanta is a very popular place for people of color because of its STRONG black presence. Nonetheless, we just squander our chances @ really showing the gay community that we can in fact do more than have sex with each other. The private barbecues and other social gatherings are all in good fun but I still wonder how is that they somehow turn out to be a sex fest? Even the Lennox Mall turns out to be this pre-club event where gay men go to check each other out AND be as GAY as they can. All this shows is that there is NO real connection AND instead of us embracing each other we are just breaking down a community that can get no worse. 

If only the ITLA’S theme (TIME TO ACT) were actually adhered to…I guess that is just wishful thinking on my part. Nonetheless, I know that 90% of the gay folks that leave this event won’t feel that they PROMOTED the issues of BLACK gay people of the world. I am SURE they know that they didn’t build relationships that would hold them for a lifetime. But then again I guess those things don’t matter because it isn’t like they will see any of their sex partners again…RIGHT? Therefore, my words are null in void AND I am wrong about all of this, maybe I am the one that is left of the middle and the behavior conducted here is VERY much on point. No matter because I am that rare homosexual, the type that seldom goes to gay bars OR clubs. I actually want some sort of future for all of us. How did this group of people that have NO real appreciation of how good they have it as GAY men AND women become the norm? Am I @ fault for NOT showing them otherwise? Whatever it is I know that we on BOTH sides of this behavior are SO caught up in doing things the way others think we should that it seems that we have forgotten that NO one but us can tell us how to be gay. We have all indeed LOST our way… 

BUT I DIGRESS…AS THE FUTURE GOES, MY ONLY HOPE IS THAT AS TIME GOES ON WE WILL LEARN THE SUBTLE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN HOLDING A MAN’S D!CK & CHAINING HIS SOUL. IT IS IMPORTANT FOR US TO NOTE THAT BEING GAY IS NOT ABOUT THE COMPANY YOU KEEP IT IS ABOUT SECURITY, ACCEPTANCE & SELF-LOVE. IT WOULD BE NICE IF THE KISSES, TOUCHES & FEELINGS EXCHANGED WERE ALL GOING TO LEAD US SOMEWHERE INSTEAD OF US LOSING A BIT OURSELVES YEAR AFTER YEAR. THEY SAY THAT 13 IS AN UNLUCKY NUMBER, BUT I WILL HOLD OUT HOPE THAT AFTER THIS GAY PRIDE EVENT WE WILL PAVE THE ROAD & START THE BUILDING UP THE COMMUNITY SO THAT YEAR 13 CAN MARK THE POSITIVE WAY FORWARD. ISN’T IT TIME THAT WE STOP HANDING DOWN A WHOLE HEAP OF CONFUSION & NOTHINGNESS?