While discrimination in Social Security benefits for same-sex couples is a hugely important issue, getting hundreds of queers to show up at an event in West Hollywood really only requires a half-price drink special. That said, apathy is a plague, so seeing the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center manage to get hundreds of good folks (and federal and state lawmakers) to RSVP to its Rock for Equality event, to protest a social ill, well, that’s pretty impressive.
SSCHIEFRSHA
Now this IS America!
Andrew
Much more effective then old men in speedos and shirtless guys in pink thongs.
terrwill
Nice to se John Lithgow is supporting us…….. : p
TommyOC
I’ve long wondered if this site a) hates LA or b) loves the East Coast so much they have no room for anything else.
All I have to say is that driving 50 miles to WeHo – which is what many of us had to do on Sunday – is a lot more of a task (and much more expensive) than getting on some stupid train from Queens or Chelsea and taking a ride across town.
chango
Queerty assumes the “hundreds” who attended the rally were gay.
“About 700 people — young, middle age and old — attended the rally”
reason
Messaging is fairly important, it’s nice to see the community represented by everyday people that are being harmed by the social ills of society. The mainstream straight community is not represented by men sloshing cups of booze at a gentlemen’s club, why are gays always portrayed in half naked sexualized manners (especially on fox news). It leads the general public to think about gay sex, subconsciously drawing the conclusion that sex is what this whole thing is about, instead of realizing that it is about decent people that are being denied rights that are making their lives very difficult. The movement needs to be humanized, it is the only way to win over people who can’t see past are opponents media spin.
chango
@reason:
leads the general public to think about gay sex, subconsciously drawing the conclusion that sex is what this whole thing is about, instead of realizing that it is about decent people that are being denied rights
Are you suggesting that gays who choose to dance around half-naked aren’t “decent people?”
Andrew
@chango: I’d certainly suggest they are doing us no favors.
reason
@chango: Have to come back to respond because you want to parse until you can find something to speak negatively about. Common wisdom tells you that if you portray a community’s main focus as people that are only interested in having sex and partying on the streets in a lewd and lascivious manner, the majority is going to draw an extremely negative opinion about gays. It’s propaganda which has been used throughout history to sour one groups opinion of another, and this caricature of the gay community is exactly that. I didn’t draw any conclusions on people that like to dance half-naked, because I am sure that there is more to most of them than dancing half-naked buzzed on vodka day in and day out. There is more to the community than the most provocative scene at a gay pride parade. Most gays work hard, value family, care about friends, love their country, want to be contributors to society, and wish to have the opportunity to vigorously pursue the American dream while afforded the same rights, dignity, and respect that the majority of Americans enjoy.
chango
@reason:
[img]http://kinialohaguy.files.wordpress.com/2009/11/smug2.jpg[/img]
Your claim that “I am sure that there is more to most of them than dancing half-naked buzzed on vodka day in and day out.” is hardly convincing given your sanctimonious final sentence that sounds straight out of a Glen Beck harangue.