Here’s one reason why former beauty contestants and showgirl’s shouldn’t go into politics: Mara Carfagna. Recently appointed as Italy’s minister for equal opportunities by Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Carfagna proved her penchant for inequality by saying she would not back “pointless” gay pride:
Carfagna said in comments published Monday that she would not back the June gay pride event in Bologna because “gay prides are pointless.”
“Homosexuality is no longer a problem, at least not the way the organizers of these demonstrations would have us believe,” Carfagna said. “Gay pride’s only aim is official recognition for homosexual couples, on the same level with marriage. I cannot agree to that.”
“Gone are the times when homosexuals were declared mentally ill,” Carfagna told Corriere della Sera. “Today there is such a thing as integration into society.”
Please tell us this chick’s not for real.
Michael Duquette
I have to agree with her to some extent. Pride parades are foolish and really detract from the issues. They make us seem like silly sex-driven queens and lets face it, every pride parade is essentially an orgy with feather boas. I do not condone such behavior and it’s really no surprise we’re not advancing any more than what we actually are when our people are representing ourselves so foolishly.
Eminent Victorian
Are you sure that’s not Pete Burns?
Woof
Pride is great and it is no different then celebrating your birthday. You appreciate yourself everyday, yet you still celebrate one day every year.
Gatto Nero
What a pity: she’s real.
Does anyone want to host some italian gay refugees?
We are DESPERATES.
parisinla
That bitch.
nikko
I agree, Michael Duquette
M Shane
On some levels she seems to be right. There are people for whom the only issue is that of hijacking the straight marrital tradition, which is by no means the most important or even an important issue. Any person who aims to be just like straight people is out of touch with the reality of finding themselves.The promotion of other more authentic gay concerns is whaty it needs to be about.
foofyjim
I totally disagree with you Michael and Nikko.
Too many young people are still struggling to come out or come to terms with their homosexuality. Pride is an in-your-face to every straight person out there that We’re Here! We’re Queer! and to Get Used To It! That may seem passe to older queens who are confident in their sexuality and their position in society, but not so for someone still young and struggling. They are a beacon of light and hope.
Also, we would need to celebrate Pride every month of the year for 10 years to begin to equal the amount of alcohol that has been consumed to celebrate just St. Patrick’s Day in the US over the past 100 years. Aren’t those just orgies with green beer?
foofyjim
Also, she’s a bitch with little tits!
M Shane
BTW Mik DuQ: I suspect that Italian parades are a far cry from our freeky U.S. presentations. In Europe, they take political demonstration more seriously than we do. My suspicion is that there they have just taken over this “marriage” single mindedness as “the” cause. Being the capital of popery, she is just taking the Catholic line.
Disorder
It’s for real, unfortunately.
Two days earlier, in another interview, the same ex-pinup (whose assignment as “Minister for the Equal Opportunities ” was already ridiculous in itself) gave the gay community the advice to be “more temperate”…
(http://qn.quotidiano.net/politica/2008/05/17/89494-mara_carfagna_siate_sobri.shtml)
But out of the nonsense of this chick, the sentences and opinions reported in the post are commonly endorsed by most of the political representatives…Maybe italian gay people are really more “integrated” than other western countries!
AnotherJason
I too tire of some of the festivities, but Prides are still relevant. Not everyone lives in such a welcoming town or gayborhood, or is privileged enough to take it for granted.
And ultimately, the Pride season is what you make it, whether you’re just about getting faded and having a “gays gone wild” weekend, building a float with your family or close circle of friends, or taking the time to be more active with a certain cause or organization.
SD619GUY
I disagree with you MichaelQ. There are so many good things about Pride, you are just pointing out the same thing anti-gay groups focus on which is the “sexual” or “flamboyancy” of the parade. The entire festival/parade mixes a lot of fun with a lot of information for the community. It’s about a community coming together and celebrating…and God bless all the flaming boa wearing queens for being proud of who they are. It takes real courage to be yourself.
hisurfer
No 1: I’ve never seen an “orgy with feather boas,” at Pride or anywhere else, though it sounds interesting. Will the dykes on bikes be there too?
Gatto Nero: Why, yes, I wouldn’t mind hosting some poor gay Italian refugees!
Miss Understood
People in every country are still killed for being gay. People who live in the safety f an urban lifestyle should not be fooled into thinking that the whole world has it so easy. What would she say to the parents of Lawrence King?
reversion
I personally find the word “Pride” annoying.
I’m gay and happy with myself, but being gay isn’t something I’m “proud” of. It’s like saying I’m proud the sky is blue, or even proud about being a US American; that is, being proud about something I’ve had no control over, which is absurd.
The whole “We’re Here! We’re Queer! Get Used To It!” seems more of a statement of our presence than pride, so I don’t really mind about that.
ousslander
She is some what right. I’ve only been to the nyc parade, in westchester The Loft hosts a BBQ which is more family oriented, is more about getting fucked up and wilding out.
Gatto my Sicilian in-laws would probably love you.
John Santos
Won’t somebody PLEASE think of the sluts!
Thank god she’s got looks, because if she had to get by on brains she’d be screwed.
jourdain
I’m with HISURFER: those orgies sound like fun!
Gregoire
Its funny to hear people bitching about gay pride parades as though it is single handedly the one thing preventing gay people from getting equal rights and acceptance from straight people.
John
Another reactionary right-wing moment for a reactionary right-wing country. Italy is a joke. And Berlusconi is a clown.
In a few years, they’ll probably even take over the title of “most xenophobic European nation” from Poland.
Viva Espana!
Viva Zapatero!
Peter Pan
I agree! I find these parades totally pointless! My brother does not have a ‘straight’ pride parade, why should I have a ‘gay’ pride parade!
Real issues that should OUTRAGE us, such as the fact that the US created the AIDS virus are never mentioned during these parades, so there is no real issues that are being tackled!
Facts about man-made AIDS:
http://www.rense.com/general81/sdf.htm
http://www.originofaids.com/articles/early.htm
Let’s rather just have a gay festival for the sake of having fun. Parades are soooo yesterday!
Charley
They want us to get under a rock and hide. Pride parades are being discouraged by local governments in the southern states due to fundamental religious pressures. It’s getting dangerous to fly a rainbow flag is states like Oklahoma. We are in the midst of a cultural evolutionary war.
Charley
About pride marches helping youth come out. Is it really helping in todays violent atmosphere ? Let’s not forget gay proud Lawrence King, shot at school because of the hatred from a fellow school mate.
foofyjim
YES Pride parades help! And YES we should be Proud. Why, because is can be up to 100,000 people together chanting, singing, laughing, partying, crying with glee, hugging, waving flags, and marching proud.
Proud,m I say, of who and what we are. We will not be put back in the closet! We will not sit idly by while our fate is decided by old white men. Our voices will be heard!
Do you remember your first Pride parade? Were you out yet? I wasn’t. I was amazed. Hundreds and thousands of people who didn’t care that I was gay, who were probably gay themselves. And here they were dressed up, waving rainbow flags, marching down the middle of the street like they felt good about themselves. I didn’t think it was possible to feel that good or that accepted.
My straight brother doesn’t need a Straight Pride parade either. But then again, there isn’t a million people telling him his lifestyle is a sin, that he will burn in hell, that his relationship is a greater scourge than terrorism, and that he should die.
If you’re not proud of who you are, then stay home. I’ll be partying with the rest of the Queers! Happy Pride to all!
hell's kitchen guy
Those tired arguments about how “they” look at “us” because of leather thonged musclemen, queens in boas, dykes on bikes has been going on since 1970, when these marches began.
As if we marched in stocking and dresses (for women, of course), suits for men – that would get us our rights faster.
M Shane
HKG: That’s the Sulivan argument;: assimilation rather than identity. Actually a good arguement can be made for the offense that we are too much like straights (but deceptively not so).
There may be somethng to be said for sticking it in their face.. We are different you know.
I’ve lost more jobs because people pretty invarably take me fro being straight initially. I thonk that our identity needs to be loud and clear. Like Reversion says “We’re Here! We’re Queer! Get Used To It!”
M Shane
The fact of the matter is that most gay people are conspicuously different emotionally and sexually than”breeders”. The cowardly disposition to hyjacking the heterosexual prototype is just a deception. For those who want to recloset; assimilate, but don’t rain on everyone elses’ parade.
Michael Duquette
You know, I live in Texas, right outside of Dallas in a town of about 100,000. I know what it’s like to feel shamed, but there’s a difference in equality marches like the women’s movement and the civil rights movement and what pride parades have become. As far as someone calling me an old queen, I’m 24, so that doesn’t hold any water either. I’m just saying that making advances involves some sort of responsibility towards our image and we aren’t helping the cause by the actions of some of our people. I’m all for being proud of who you are, I love that I am gay and I wouldn’t have it any other way (you should see my boyfriend and you would understand! lol) but our community really needs a make over, one would think that would be easy enough, but it’s not. It’s really no wonder small town America generally dispises us, the only thing they know of is the image projected by these parades of hot pants, feathers and drag queens and that is not who 95% of us are on a daily basis. The only positive role model we have in the mainstream is Ellen and Fox News is having a field day throwing her under the bus, so all I’m saying is that we should roll up our sleeves and actually start putting forth more of a positive image.
hell's kitchen guy
^^^ Michael, my son: Do you REALLY think that these right wingers couldn’t get photos of us doing “shameful” things w/out filming Pride parades: Folsom Street. IML. Black Party. Fire Island (anywhere!).
You want me to go on? No, there’s no argument there. Unless we get rid of all of the events mentioned above. Oh, you might want to do that.
Trust me, they’ll STILL find images.
hell's kitchen guy
And even then they’d find more. Laura Ingraham was up in arms when the NYTimes had a photo of two (well-dressed) women kissing in an article on Dinah Shore Weekend.
My point: Your argument is a slippery slope.
RPCV
I agree with everything Mara Carfagna said. And, Michael Duquette, you put it very well. I would never be caught dead at a gay pride event. It’s a shame the gay community’s actions compel me to feel this way, since here in Washington, DC, with the worldly atmosphere we have, we do not have a more attractive/mainstream Pride event. Pride events are an embarrassment. And writers here question my earlier comments that gays are not deserving of gay “marriage” because the community is, by and large, flaky, weird, and in desperate need of maturation. No more need be said….
Vincent GAtto
I’m a Gatto and gay too