Overreaction of Titanic Proportions over Imaginary Homophobia

I just saw this on the news:

Professor and former Surrey-North federal Liberal candidate Shinder Purewal sparked a Twitter storm on Thursday by tweeting that he finds the Vancouver Pride Parade “vulgar.”

He posted on Twitter that “Vancouver’s so-called ‘Pride Parade’ should be banned. It is vulgar ... to say the least!”

The Kwantlen University professor and former citizenship judge received a flood of responses, all disagreeing with him.

In a telephone interview Thursday about his tweet, Purewal said: “If I can’t take my family to a place because of open sexuality, my opinion is that it’s simply vulgar.

...

 Vancouver Pride Society president Ken Coolin said people are entitled to their own opinion, but called Purewal’s comments “unfortunate.

He said Purewal “should understand how comments like this can turn into challenges for the community.

“It’s sad he chose to make this comment; it is going to be interpreted as homophobic by many in our community, even though he doesn’t see it that way.”

I question whether he has sat and watched the parade the whole way through, because there are families, brothers, sisters, moms and dads, who go together to support each other,” said Coolin.

Emphasis added.
Let me just say that I completely agree with Professor Purewal, and his comments are in no way homophic.  The parade is vulgar.  For photos that showcase the parade's vulgarity, click here, here, here, here, and here (warning: that last image contains nudity).  A simple Google search will reveal many, many more obscene photos.  Is that really an event you want to bring your family to?

The following tweets showcase the irrationality of some people (sorry for the atrocious formatting):

 Top @ShinderPurewal tweets:

jarrahpenguin Jarrah Hodge
@ShinderPurewal's #vanpride2011 "clarification" didn't help. You can't say you support #lgbt rights but find the sexuality "vulgar"
KSAcouncil Kwantlen KSA
Kwantlen prof @shinderpurewal views on #vanpride2011 dont reflect the @KSACouncil
anotherPurewal Tavleen Purewal
Yup, why doesn't everyone jump on the hate @ShinderPurewal bandwagon! His opinion, "something I wouldn't want my children to see"

@ShinderPurewal life long learner? How is that possible when your mind is closed so tight?

tuxforpm TuxForPM
@ShinderPurewal Sure, why not? Lets ban every way people have to express themselves because it offends our intransigent morality #cdnpoli
tdhross Jonathan Ross
@shinderpurewal @liberal_party As a proud Liberal, this ex-candidate's disgusting views on #vanpride2011 does not represent our party. Shame

Emphasis added.

In case someone reads this that isn't familiar with me, I am gay.  Seriously, some of these comments leave me absolutely astonished and speechless.  I don't even know what to say.  People are entitled to their views obviously (this isn't the Netherlands, for God's sake), but I have never seen such overreaction.  Wow.  That is really all I can say.  I no longer have any hope for the "gay community."  It is clear that they are self-absorbed and intransigent, and, since they are a minority, they have the responsibility to listen to the majority (within reasonableness, of course).  

See also: this post.

UPDATE: Please also note that Professor Purewal also said this:

“That does not mean that I don’t support same-sex marriage, which I do and voted for, or that I don’t support people of different sexual orientation, but for it to be in public is vulgar.”

UPDATE: I edited this post a bit.

Rodeos and Drag Queens

In my previous post, I mentioned that I had originally intended to write about something completely different than what I ended up writing about.  In the first sentence of that post, I mentioned Vancouver Pride.  I originally meant to talk about drag queens, which are a staple at pride parades (or so it seems), but ended up talking about Alberta's conservative politics.  Anyway, what I was originally going to say follows.

I will spare you my opinion of drag queens.  I will say, however, that I do not see what relevance they have to homosexuals.  I do not know very much about drag queens, or transvetitism, or transgenderism (which I talked about previously), nor do I want to.  I am homosexual, but, even in my youth, none of my mannerisms were very "girly."  Aside from my sexuality and agnosticism, I am a traditional kind of guy.  Here, I opined on gay pride.  Since I never plan on attending a gay pride parade (except maybe to join the anti-gay protesters, although my motivation for protesting would be much different from theirs), the large occurrence of drag queens does not particularly bother me, aside from their association with gays.  Although I believe I know why drag queens are associated with gays, I do not believe they should be.  To me, they seem to be better associated with transgenderism, which is not a sexual orientation.  For the same reason, I prefer the term LGB to LGBT (although I do not use either).

In my previous post, I mentioned the Calgary Stampede, which includes a rodeo.  The spirit of the event appeals to me and my inner redneck.  That brings me to gay rodeo, which is possibly the only gay-themed event I would ever be likely to attend.  I wonder if it is an event that draws more conservative-leaning homosexuals, similar to how regular rodeos appeal more to conservatives than to liberals.  To anyone who reads this that is familiar with gay rodeo, I have a question.  Is it an actual rodeo, or it is just some campy parody?  I have researched the event a bit, and, much to my chagrin, drag queens seem to be a staple of the event.  This fact leads me to believe the latter is true.

The Horrors of Gay Pride

I am very critical of gay pride.  The concept of being proud of such a thing is absurd.  The actual parades showcase sexuality and immorality.  This morning, I watched an interview on the news with an organizer of a gay pride event in Vancouver, who said that people would have the opportunity to walk down a certain street naked during the gay pride events.  Is that how the gay community wants to represent itself?  Personally, as a homosexual person, the gay pride parade and its focus on sex offends me. 

I am neither proud of nor ashamed of my sexuality.  I would hope that it would be considered the least interesting thing about me.  But the gay pride events draw attention to sexuality, and those who participate seem to make their sexuality a significant aspect of themselves. 

I am an opponent of the concept of the gay community as well as gay pride.  Any other gay people who share my views, please speak up!