Gay-Pri Para Sets Mastream Acceptance Of Gays Back 50 Years

Contents:

• GAY-PRI PARA SETS MASTREAM ACCEPTANCE OF GAYS BACK 50 YEARS
• GAY PRI CELEBRATNS ACROSS U.S.
• SMALL TOWN THROWS PRI PARA FOR ONLY GAY RINT
• GAY PRI WEEK IN REVIEW
• NOT THE ONN: MOSW BANS GAY PRI FOR NEXT 100 YEARS
• GAY PRI

GAY-PRI PARA SETS MASTREAM ACCEPTANCE OF GAYS BACK 50 YEARS

WEST HOLLYWOOD, CA–The mastream acceptance of gays and lbians, a hard-won civil-rights victory gaed through s of stggle agast prejudice and discrimatn, was set back at least 50 years Saturday the wake of the annual Los Angel Gay Pri Para. Participants Saturday's Los Angel Gay Pri Para, which helped change straight people's tolerant attus toward gays. Fancial Problems Force Ron DeSantis Campaign To Fire WifeOffEnglish"I'd always thought gays were regular people, jt like you and me, and that the stereotype of homosexuals as hedonistic, sex-crazed viants was jt a stctive myth, " said mother of four Hannah Jarrett, 41, mortified at the sight of 17 tanned and oiled boys vortg jock straps to a throbbg techno beat on a float shaped like an enormo phall.

GAY PRI CELEBRATNS ACROSS U.S.

" The para, anized by the Los Angel Gay And Lbian And Bisexual And Transvte And Transgenr Alliance (LAGALABATATA), was tend to "promote acceptance, tolerance, and equaly for the cy's gay muny. " Jt the oppose, however, was acplished, as the event nfirmed the worst fears of thoands of non-gay spectators, cementg their mds a bched and distorted image of gay life straight out of the most vilent right-wg hate lerature.

Among the para sights and sounds that did timable harm to the gay-rights e: a group of obe women leather biker outfs passg out cloris-shaped lollipops to horrified onlookers; a man ary uniform leadg a submissive masochist, clad diapers and a baby bon, around on a dog leash; several Hispanic dancers rabow wigs and miskirts performg "humpg" motns on a mannequ drsed as the Pope; and a dozen gyratg drag queens see-through drs holdg penis-shaped beer bottl that appeared to spurt ejaculatn-like foam when shaken and poured onto passersby. Timothy Oros, 51, a lol Walgreens manager whose store is on the para route, changed his attu toward gays as a rult of the event. ' and 'Hey, hey, we're gay, we're not gog to go away!

SMALL TOWN THROWS PRI PARA FOR ONLY GAY RINT

Allison Weber, 43, an El Segundo marketg nsultant, also had her perceptns and assumptns about gays challenged by the para.

"My unrstandg was that gay people are jt like everybody else–cent, hard-workg people who re about their muni and have lovg, mted relatnships, " Weber said.

GAY PRI WEEK IN REVIEW

Footage of the event was featured on telests of The 700 Club as "proof of the s-steeped world of homosexualy. " A photo spread Monday's USA Today chronicled many of the event's vulgar displays–unrstood by gays to be tongue--cheek "high mp"–which horrified prevly tolerant people om ast to ast. Henry Thorne, a New York Universy history profsor who has wrten several books about the gay-rights movement, explaed the misunrstandg.

NOT THE ONN: MOSW BANS GAY PRI FOR NEXT 100 YEARS

"After centuri of opprsn as an 'visible' segment of society, gays, embolned by the 1969 Stonewall uprisg, took to the streets the early '70s wh an '-your-face' attu.

GAY PRI

Conontg the worst prejudic of a world that didn't accept them, they fought back agast the prejudic wh exaggeratn and parody, reclaimg their enemi' worst stereotyp about them and turng them to symbols of gay pri, " Thorne said. "Thirty years later, gays have won far greater acceptance the world at large, but they keep dog this stuff anyway.

The Los Angel Gay Pri Para, Thorne noted, is part of a s-old gay-rights tradn.

"I have a who's a gay, and he seemed like a cent enough guy to me, " said Iowa Cy, IA, rint Rs Lr, Los Angel for a weekend sal semar.