P_M good for you! =D>

Hey PM,

You know Austin has to have a gay pride parade! Heck, Austin has a parade for everything. The pride parade was June 3.

The number one reason I LOVE Austin is its Tolerance!! Life sure is nicer and easier when people aren't so worried about hating this group or the other for being different. I still read the Letters to the Editors of my old local paper back in North Florida and it just pains me how intolerant some people there can be. Intolerance does nothing but breed hate and contempt.

Let's have a Tolerance Parade!!!

The term "alternative lifestyle" makes every gay person I know cringe as if they've just hear a hundred fingernails sliding down a blackboard.

There is neither anything "alternative" about being born a homosexual, nor is there a "lifestyle" that is substantially different from the norm.

Being a vegetarian, a nun with a vow a silence, a teenage goth, a gang member are lifestyles. Going to work, paying taxes, being a caring person, having an interest in civic issues, voting, enjoying loved ones - whether they be friends, family or a lover of the same sex - do not make for a "lifestyle".

JMO, but I think the term reeks of prejudices, and I'm sure most who use it don't mean it to.

Orcas--LOL! We were with another family, who had very young boys, when we didn't realize what weekend it was one year. Yes, we ended up right in the heart of that...and the boys at first were stunned...then just giggled. The husbands had a few more entertaining words

LoveItaly--Yup, our town is the same way! I think people would be dropping of heart attacks if they saw any of these parades.

Chicago's is this weekend.

http://www.chicagopridecalendar.org/

According to the website, about 400,000 people showed up last year. I was there too and it was a lot of un.

BlueStar, lifestyle in my definition is how one chooses to live their life.

Per Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus:
Lifestyle; behavior, conduct, habits, style of living, way of acting.

The Oxford American Dictionary and Language Guide: Lifestyle; the particular way of life of a person of a group.

Websters New International Dictionary-Second Edition. Unabridged. Last copywrited 1939: The word lifestyle is not in this dictionary. Strange!

BlueStar..we agree! For once you and I have the same thoughts. Which means do not assume that someone on this board is thinking contrary to you.

I respect all people regardless of their lifestyle, their skin color, their religion, their thinking etc. as long as they are respectable of other people. I trust that you and I can agree with that thought. Best regards.

The best Gay Parade I ever saw was in Stockhom. It ROCKED. Much more entertaining than San Francisco. (BTW I am a 70-year-old straight grandmother)

Hi jtrandolph, I am a straight grandmother also!! And I saw your other post that you worked on Mare Island. Maybe we knew some of the same people? Have a great weekend.

I did not know the term "alternative lifestyle" offended anyone, this is the first I'm hearing of that. If I have offended anyone on this board, please accept my apologies.

Isn't it interesting how the definitions of words can change? The opposite of 'straight' is crooked so maybe we should not refer to hetrosexuals as 'straight' anymore because the opposite of straight means 'twisted', 'bent' and that is certainly offensive when speaking of orientation. Anyhow, just thinking how our meaning of words can change over time......

I don't find "alternative lifestyle" as offensive, just ill-inforrmed and old fashioned. A little like calling African Americans "Negros" or "colored people." In the pantheon of offensive things you could say about gay and lesbian people, "alternative lifestyle" is pretty low on the list.

Yep, Pride weekend in Atlanta and the march is tomorrow.

Long Beach CA has one in May. LA/West Hollywood has one in June. Both are tourist attractions; the one in Long Beach is our second-most-attended event (just behind the Long Beach Grand Prix) every year.

The Long Beach parade gets tens of thousands of cheering spectators along Ocean Blvd.-- and about ten Christianist protestors condemning everyone else to Hell. No one pays them any attention, which makes them insane. It's a good time.

IN Houston there appears to be a Pride Festival and also a parade with crazy floats--it is this afternoon and evening--I hope to go and find some photo ops

We have TWO in Seattle this weekend...one on Capitol Hill and one down by Seattle Centger.

mms -

Perhaps you could start a parade in your town - open up some minds and let the light in.

There's a big one here in early June.

I dislike parades of any kind, so I've never attended.

Is it wierd to dislike parades???

Asbury Park, NJ had its 15th annual GLBTI Pride celebration the first weekend in June. That is Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual/Transgenedered/Intersexed.

Bobmrg beat me to it...

Seattle has TWO this year (long story). An evening one Saturday along Broadway on Capitol Hill and a second Sunday morning downtown along 4th Avenue.

ok. so without getting a specific response to my question.. i get it now. (I have heard them referred to as "gay pride, but not just 'pride' parades)
i would like to say to jrw in Long Beach, however, (not quite knowing what a Christianist is..) that i'm glad there were only 10.. THAT shows that not ALL Christians stand around condemning gay people to hell. Some of us have friends and family who are gay whom we love, and have no thought of condemning.