There’s One Word For This Picture
Above you see a picture from Sao Paulo’s gay pride. We’re not sure of an exact number, but this not-so-lovely ran in a number of news sites and papers.
We just snagged it from Washington Post. ABC and Yahoo! also used this atrocious image as one of their primary pictures for the story.
Anticipating such a horrifying and startling display, gay media watch dogs GLAAD posted a “Pride Resource Kit” on how to properly report on gay pride:
Please avoid exclusively depicting the more sensational aspects of Pride. Colorful and unconventional participants play an important role in Pride events and celebrations, but GLAAD encourages journalists to avoid the tendency to ignore the diversity that exists at Pride events. Reliance on outrageous or over-the-top images and footage marginalizes subjects by taking them out of context to depict them as abnormal – perpetuating misconceptions about the LGBT community to audiences who do not regularly attend or participate in Pride events.
That is all…
I looked at the Yahoo slideshow of Pride festivals around the world, and I noticed that about 90% of them were either a) drag queens, b) couples making out, c) mostly naked men, or d) two or more of the above. All those things are legitimate parts of Pride and it would be whitewashing not to depict them at all, but talk about sensationalism. I was a little uncomfortable. I’m not ashamed of gender noncomformity or overt sexuality, but it really felt like all the photographers were competing to get first place in outrageous. Talk about feeling like a circus sideshow.