"Straight Pride" parade in my community on Saturday

UPDATE: New diary with pix is on DK and my Web site

I was scanning AmericaBlog on Thursday, and found out that on Saturday, G-105, a local pop station (owned by ClearChannel), is sponsoring a Straight Pride Parade in Chapel Hill, NC (I live next door in Durham). There was a misimpression on the blog that the area in which I live is somehow like the backwoods of Appalachia, when it is, in fact, an academic and high-tech belt in the center of NC that is quite progressive. I found it hard to believe that a march of this kind, if they were serious, could be occurring where I live.

So, after perusing the comments at AmericaBlog on the topic, I emailed G-105 station management my thoughts below, passing along some sentiments from others that were curious about the issue.

The Triangle area is a tolerant place in the South to be gay (it's why the Christian Exodus movement chose SC, not NC for their pet project). I love living here.

This parade, however, seems like a reckless idea, given the political climate we're dealing with right now -- with one of the major political parties threatening to make bigotry against gays part of their official platform (see http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A32788-2004Aug25.html).

If you want to send the right message with the parade, I suggest that on your web site you might feature statements that are a play on gay pride, such as:

• "Gays for Straights are welcome!"
  
• "Straight is Great -- gays should have marriage rights too"
  
• "Gay, but not narrow"

After all, every civil rights march had whites, and every gay pride march has straights there in support of gays -- are gay people welcome to participate openly in the fun?

Gay pride marches originated because homosexuality was illegal and homosexuals were ostracised by mainstream society. If the event is truly a satire of the political follies going on in this realm, then you need to be clear about it up front. A Straight Pride Parade may be "all in good fun" for some, but without clarity on what you are trying to accomplish, for others it will be a license to act out on homophobic feelings (hence the need to say on your G-105 web site: "Just keep it positive and DON'T MENTION OR MAKE FUN OF ANY OTHER GROUP! The idea is a fun, positive heterosexual pride!").

It's clear from your statement that your organization wants to wash its hands in advance for any rednecks/skinheads/yahoos that come to the parade, get drunk and go "fag bashing." This recklessness in itself warrants contacting your sponsors to make sure they are aware of what they might be affiliating with.

I think it's cavalier of ClearChannel to assume only open and clear minds will be participating in this Straight Pride event given how divisive the issue of gay rights is at this time.

Peace,
--Pam Spaulding

*

IMHO, there's no real need for straight pride, if you think about it, since hets aren't oppressed -- straight culture is the dominant culture. As far as I can tell, hets are pretty proud of being straight anyhow, as I see pix of spouses and sig others on desks at work, and have to hear about someone's wild het weekend from time to time.

ANYWAY: I later received a response...

Pam,

We have received a handful of emails about the parade but yours is without a doubt the best. You offer some excellent suggestions.   If you listen to the show, they have said many of the messages that you mentioned in your email.   We have MANY gay listeners and they are joining in the parade (creating shirts / signs with messages like "I'm gay but my friend isn't" or "I'm the gay son of heterosexual parents")

We have been VERY clear that this is not an opportunity for any type of bashing or hate...and that message has been repeated over and over.   It is satire and very tongue in cheek.   And yes, EVERYONE is welcome to attend. I dare anyone to find a show that has been involved with the gay community. One of our host's friends, Ronnie,is gay and filled in for several weeks on the show.  Craig has been a judge at many of our events and is on the show quite often.   We've married lesbians on-air who are not allowed to have a legal marriages.   There is plenty more examples and I hate to list off things because it seems like we're trying to justify our relationships.

While we know some people won't see the silliness of the parade, most of the people who are complaining are hearing about the event secondhand.

Thank you very much for your input.   And thank you for your valuable time. r

RICK SCHMIDT
PROGRAM DIRECTOR
WDCG-FM -G105
[e-mail]
3100 Smoketree Court
Suite 700
Raleigh, NC 27604
[phone]

And I responded:

Thanks for the response, Rick. I wish everyone a fun, friendly, and safe time. I realize we live in the "bubble of tolerance" in the Triangle, but you don't have to drive very far outside of it in any direction to find real anger, fear and intolerance, which is sad.

I plan to go on Saturday with my wife (we were married in Canada in July) and take a sign saying "Happily, Queerly (and Legally) Married in Canada, 7/1/2004" and report back on the festivities.

•  please post

  another diary after you go (and digital photos would be appreciated)! i'd be very interested to see how this thing plays out.

  by wilfred on Thu Aug 26, 2004 at 08:17:56 PM PDT

  •  planning to take my camera

    I'll report back on what I see there. The parking in Chapel Hill is a nightmare, and I'm sure it will be a large crowd!

    by pamindurham on Thu Aug 26, 2004 at 08:32:59 PM PDT

•  I lived in Durham '83-'85.

  ...and I think this is unacceptable.  Even with the wink-wink disclaimer that gay people are welcome, the very notion of a "Straight Pride Parade" is offensive.  

  Imagine if G-105 were sponsoring a "White Pride Parade".  No amount of spin -- none -- could conceal the tacit racism in a parade so named.

  The fact that they think that a "Straight Pride Parade" is acceptable results from a thought process that concludes that the consequences of being viewed as homophobic are not as bad as the consequences of being viewed as racist.  Accepting that thought process as valid, means that they don't view the dignity of LGBTQ people in the same inviolable way as they view the dignity of African Americans.

  And that is homophobic per se.

  by osterizer on Thu Aug 26, 2004 at 08:49:20 PM PDT

•  Oh my

  My friends and I were talking about this one tonight. It sounds like some stupid DJ stunt that has gotten out of hand. The fact that the station is in Raleigh but they're having the parade in Chapel Hill shows that they're trying to provoke something. And knowing this town, they might. Then again, everyone might just say 'whatever'. I can't imagine anything more boring than 'controversial' disc jockeys.

  Here's the DTH story

  by MiklCraw4d on Thu Aug 26, 2004 at 08:51:39 PM PDT

•  Oh God

  This is G-105, which has such a great track record of tolerance and social awareness. </sarcasm>

  The "Showgram" (which is the world's dumbest name for a morning show) has been notorious for years for being offensive. Of course, I also used to live in Atlanta and no one could top Larry and Eric in being complete assholes to anyone who wasn't white, straight, male, drunk and Republican. Thankfully, Clear Channel finally fired them after years of their behavior. Even they have limits apparently.

  Bob "Dick" Dumas (Dumbass) of said Showgram was "sanctioned" at G-105 a couple of years ago for advocating that drivers should start targeting cyclists on Triangle roads, but only after the publicity made it to major media outlets and even as far away as Australia (which is a cycling nuts country, but I digress). Frankly, that was benign compared to some of the other stuff he's done. He is a self-professed Southern Baptist (in the cultural sense more than the religious sense), so what does that say?

  He also brought you the radio show "Straight Eye for the Gay Guy" where they tried to dress this poor guy up in plaid and cowboy boots and take him to a redneck bar and teach him how to pick up women. Nice.

  Madison (his former morning show cohort) finally got so pissed off at him that she left and got a morning show on the other end of the dial. She took a lot of listeners with her too. Of course, we had to live through endless months of too much information and religious sanctimony before she got married since she was trying to (re)preserve her virginity before (re?)marriage, which I guess is OK if you're straight. </snark>

  So, pardon me if I don't believe a freakin' thing G-105 says. First, they are part of Clear Channel, but beyond that, their track record is terrible.

  Of course, in the Triangle, what the hell are we supposed to listen to that isn't Clear Channel or Jesse Helms Radio/TV (i.e. WRAL)? It's amazing that in the "bubble of tolerance" our radio sucks, I guess since a vast chunk of the listeners live outside the bubble.

  I'm just in a pissy mood. G-105 is just a pet peeve of mine.

  by Aragorn for America on Thu Aug 26, 2004 at 09:07:14 PM PDT