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pnh posted something, to either Usenet or his LiveJournal, on the many different things the American flag means to the people who were flying it.
Here's another: the American flag was raised over the Castro, in place of the rainbow flag, to celebrate the Supreme Court ruling legalizing consensual sodomy. And I was reminded of something Patrick said, around that time: "I'm a patriot. I love my decadent, cosmopolitan, self-indulgent, racially-mixed, godless, intellectually dilettante, drug-abusing, promiscuous, queer-loving country. And its flag is the Stars and Stripes."
Part of why this comes to mind is that I don't think I'm going to be marching in the NY Gay Pride parade tomorrow. The heat and my knees and all make it look like a bad idea. (More likely I'll do an early animal-sitting run, then watch a while;porcinea lives half a block from the parade route, and supportive watchers are a good thing by the time you've walked a couple of miles on pavement in the June sun .) I don't mind not marching, or not as much as I did the first year I decided I couldn't. We have things to celebrate this year--things in the US as well as in Canada--but it is a celebration, not, or not only, a protest march. We're part of the ordinary fabric of this city--bank ads on telephone kiosks with Gay Pride tie-ins; subway posters advising riders which stations to use for the march, for the related PrideFest street fair, and the dance afterwards; a hotel concierge offhandedly advising a tourist against doing the tour bus thing tomorrow because "it's Gay Pride, traffic will be a mess."
I feel like thanking all of you, especially all of you who could easily have said it was nothing to do with you, and not spoken up for your friends, and for the gay and bi people you don't even know, but who all benefit when someone says or does the right thing. Thank you.
pnh posted something, to either Usenet or his LiveJournal, on the many different things the American flag means to the people who were flying it.Here's another: the American flag was raised over the Castro, in place of the rainbow flag, to celebrate the Supreme Court ruling legalizing consensual sodomy. And I was reminded of something Patrick said, around that time: "I'm a patriot. I love my decadent, cosmopolitan, self-indulgent, racially-mixed, godless, intellectually dilettante, drug-abusing, promiscuous, queer-loving country. And its flag is the Stars and Stripes."
Part of why this comes to mind is that I don't think I'm going to be marching in the NY Gay Pride parade tomorrow. The heat and my knees and all make it look like a bad idea. (More likely I'll do an early animal-sitting run, then watch a while;
porcinea lives half a block from the parade route, and supportive watchers are a good thing by the time you've walked a couple of miles on pavement in the June sun .) I don't mind not marching, or not as much as I did the first year I decided I couldn't. We have things to celebrate this year--things in the US as well as in Canada--but it is a celebration, not, or not only, a protest march. We're part of the ordinary fabric of this city--bank ads on telephone kiosks with Gay Pride tie-ins; subway posters advising riders which stations to use for the march, for the related PrideFest street fair, and the dance afterwards; a hotel concierge offhandedly advising a tourist against doing the tour bus thing tomorrow because "it's Gay Pride, traffic will be a mess."I feel like thanking all of you, especially all of you who could easily have said it was nothing to do with you, and not spoken up for your friends, and for the gay and bi people you don't even know, but who all benefit when someone says or does the right thing. Thank you.
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