Sunday, July 01, 2007

Michigan Pride

Yesterday, June 30th was Michigan Pride in Lansing. I am sorry, but none of my pictures turned out. But for the most part, it was nothing really interesting. And in my opinion, that is a good thing. Not that there is anything wrong with people who wish to dress in drag or dress any way they want. What I mean is that we are not something to be frightened of, we are just people like everyone else.

Two of the speakers at the capital were very interesting. The first was a MtoF transsexual who was fired from her position at a local university when she started her transition process. The other speaker was her wife of over 30 years. This courageous woman decided to stay with the person she loved even if it meant that her husband was about to become her wife.

Of course we had all kinds of people telling us we were damned to Hell. Nick and I wanted to stage a scene where we would hear the protesters, have a violent break-up and grab the nearest woman, throw her to the ground and proceed (to a point!) to get jiggy with her! But alas, we didn't do it.

There was a church there that was protesting the protesters! Sometimes I am not as ashamed to be called a Christian.

2 comments:

Ur-spo said...

Gandi was once asked about Chritianity.
He replied he liked their Christ, but he did not like the Christians.

Steve F. said...

I've always loved that Gandhi quote, too...

There is a fellow named Drew Hinkle, who is a GCN member and also a student at Spring Arbor Univ., who first told me about Julie Nemecek, the MtoF you wrote about. She's had an interesting journey, but finally got a settlement (read about it here).

You can read more about Drew and SAU here. There is also an amazing article about the GLBT students there in some mag called "Between the Lines" - I just found it from his photostream over here.

I've often wondered about some of the freak-show features of Pride. The couple of Chicago Pride parades I went to had very few true "freaks" in it - but the whole sexual-freedom, "we'll do who we want to" attitude does get on right-wing folks' nerves. You don't find 'em passing out colored condoms at the Rotary gatherings, folks...

It's like the issue of the Simpsons, where they are doing a Pride Parade. The Queer Nation folks are chanting, "We're here! We're queer! Get used to it!" And little Lisa says, "We ARE used to it, you morons - you do this EVERY YEAR...."

In my devious mind, I think it would have been even funnier for you and Nick to (a)have a violent public breakup, (b) grab a nearby pre-planted lady, c) proceed to get jiggy with her in public, (d) stop abruptly, yell, "Nah, no good!", and (e) get back up, grab Nick, kiss, and walk off hand-in-hand...

That would be a worthy counter protest, I think.

And no, I'm not wrapped right or tight.