Southern Decadence is exactly as it sounds: an extravaganza of partying in the South’s infamous Big Easy. The party sets off on August 31st and lasts through September 5th. Ration your energy if you want to make it all the way through to Monday–you’ll need every last drop. Here’s a slideshow of Decadence past to get you in the mood.
Brian
Holy hell man on the left in #4!
michael
Pride season isn’t totally over…Dallas’ pride is next month!
slanty
There sure are a lot of people in pic 7. Just a few decades ago, not many people would have openly celebrated pride, and the change gives me a lot of encouragement.
Mav
I agree with the reasoning behind gay pride parades, but walking around downtown in your underwear while Manhunt-esque banners wave on every corner makes the straights cringe, and I honestly can’t say I blame them much. It’s one thing to march with a sign that says, “When do I get to vote for YOUR marriage?”, it’s another to skip around in glitter-splashed grape smugglers and a multicolored tutu and expect people to act like that’s normal behavior.
Personally, I think it reinforces negative stereotypes that being gay is all about sex (and camp to a lesser degree). I know that’s the impression it gives off, because I have heard straight people make that comment to me several times over the course of my life – “If gays and lesbians want to be treated like regular people, why don’t they ACT like it?” And it’s all based on their impressions of gay pride parades – they don’t think of queers drinking coffee, walking their dogs, doing their homework, or sitting in traffic, they think of them sashaying down Main Street in leather and drag, groping each other indiscriminately and getting hammered. No-holds-barred debauchery, in other words.
When people think of me as being queer, that’s really not the image I personally want to conjure up. However, far be it for me to rain on the parade! I’m just glad we have the freedom to express ourselves however we like.
(In an ideal world, everyone would just enjoy the man-cake or female equivalent and get over it. Too bad we don’t live in that one.)