“I felt confused, embarrassed, used, abandoned by my leadership. I had to fight through it.” – San Diego firefighter Alex Kane on being “forced” to participate in a gay pride parade. Kane and three others are suing the city for their allegedly traumatic experience. [San Diego Union-Tribune]
“Confused.”
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Raven
“I felt confused, embarrassed, used, abandoned by my leadership”
I guess they know what it’s like to be gay now.
JJ
Nice accompanying photo!
Madam HoVery
I am sick of this gay attitude! It is like the Queen (a fitting title) from Alice In Wonderland–“Sentence first, verdict afterwards”! But when the shoe is on the other foot then, WATCH OUT! I know my fags. I am positive that there is quite a bit of truth in what the firefighters are saying. Some queens have no self control and do not know when to reel it in! Let us be honest here. And the accompanying pic of the baby makes my point even more! Shame on you queerty for swaying like that. Or is it swishing like that?
greybat
Frankly, I’m a bit on the side of the firefighter in the article.
One should only participate in a festival if one truly wants to be there. “Enforced jollity” is never a good idea, and there are better ways to accustom city employees to the Gay people they serve.
Sean S.
Being a parade, to me anyways, is no different than say a public service announcement, or some other form of advertising thats attempting to get the name and reputation of a department or agency out there. Others have brought up whether this an attempt to force homosexuality or certain opinions down the firefighters throat, and certainly thats what the Thomas More Legal Center is banking on to win its case.
Except state and public agencies already “force” such issues through non-discrimination policies and through mandatory diversity and sensitivity training. And those types of programs are not only legal, but generally accepted by courts and others as something essential to a public workforce that has to deal with a diverse set of constituents. So its hard to buy the argument that you can’t be “forced” to believe something in order to hold down a public job; you obviously, can, and will, be forced on a professional level to enforce and promote certain agency decisions and policies.
Obviously this does breed a certain amount of cognitive dissonance; the Catholic police officer protecting an abortion clinic or the Mormon county clerk who fills out gay marriage forms, And no one’s saying those people can’t, or shouldn’t argue against or protest laws that they don’t believe in. But when you put on that badge, that helmet, or that name tag on, you are no longer representing solely the individual group that you choose to affiliate with, you represent the state, and all of its attendant policies and laws, for better or for worse, and you are charged to carry them out, with generally few exceptions.
My view of how the civil service (and I really do view it as ‘service’) may be slightly antiquated, but I think it serves us well.
greybat
The advantage to antiques being that they are tried and true.
However, being something of an antique myself, I also think a parade is like a work of art, or a public celebration. The participants should be joyful and interested in the proceedings, or at least dedicated to the smooth operation of the event.
The men who embarrassed the firefighters probably didn’t intend to be mean (hopefully), but were a bit drunk and excited by their presence…after all, nothing is more phallic than a big red firetruck!
tallskin
WHAT THE FUCK am i reading on here from these self-oppressed moronic gays making their dumb comments???? Fuck, these fireman should get used to it, the fucking cry-babies!
One of the fireman has had to seek counselling since he has suggestive comments made at him! SO WHAT! How many women have these macho wimps sexually harassed and hurled sexist abuse at???
This is the most absurd and ridiculous thing I have read in a long time, firemen sent to do their job, in a particularly cushy assignment, just driving alongside a parade, not fighting fires, not risking life and limb, yet they find reason to complain
Folks, if these fuckers succeed in their case against the city of san diego then it will be a precedent for all kinds of other homophobic arseholes to sue on similar grounds.
But over and above that as I have already said, possibly the most appalling thing are the self oppressed views expressed by Madam HoVery (assuming this particular ARSE is even gay) and Greybat
ajax
Way to go, TALLSKIN. Being an antique myself, I have enough life experience to know that, if I’m in an unpleasant situation, I pick myself up and leave. One would think a FIRE fighter would be better able to tolerate a few FLAMERS.
Madam HoVery
@ tallskin: Madam HoVery and his “arse” are both proud of their gay card, thank you very much! You and your supporter Ajax, on the other hand, are morons! Your whole argument rests on the fact that because “all” straight men make lewd and suggestive comments towards women, it is okay for us to behave towards “all” straight men in that fashion as well! WHAT?! Point is, do we know for a fact that these men can be accused of such behaviors? Why are we generalizing/stereotyping a behavior? Aren’t we fighting against stereotyping ourselves? Although judging by your remarks and attitude, you have solidified my original point about queens out of control! You are the kind that gives us the stereotype! Here is another thing that I am about to squash for you like Santa Claus–not ALL straight men are secretly wanting to have gay sex!
greybat
I’m not self-oppressed…just well-mannered.
And Madam is quite right. A little self control, even in so bacchanalian a setting as a Pride parade goes a long way, and we don’t want to ape the bad behavior of our social oppressors.
To Ajax I reply, it seems that the firemen were ORDERED to appear in the parade, which is where the problem began.That is unfair to the firefighters, and unfair to the attending public, who evidently assumed they were among friends.
Otherwise, they could and probably should have dropped out of the parade.
Jai
“not ALL straight men are secretly wanting to have gay sex!”
What makes you assume that ALL firefighters are straight?
Madam HoVery
I did NOT say “all” firefighters are straight. Where did I state that in my response?!
Madam HoVery
Greybat made some excellent points.
sdandy
I haven’t seen these details anywhere, but were they (hiding) up in a truck or walking outside the truck. That would make a huge difference. If they were up in the truck, they are babies. If they had to walk outside the truck, then yeah, I can see that as being very torturous for someone not wanting to be there. Either way, I hope me cheering them participating in the parade made them shake in their boots.