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Lets talk about the drag "ban" at the Scottish pride event.

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    #32
    J_E
    Closed Accounts Posts: 5,734 ✭✭✭J_E


    HamsterFace wrote: »
    If I was organizing the parade and didn't feel they were what the parade was about then I would say so.

    But it's not my parade, and I don't really care, just giving my opinion that I don't see why these OTT performance are always tied in with civil rights pertaining to homosexuality.

    Anyway, have a nice evening.
    Think you do a great disservice to the broad scope that drag covers. A comedy queen is just one type, and you know you are just doing pure generalisation, not even in a decent way.
    wakka12 wrote: »
    I personally don't mind them..but I think they send a bad message to straight people, just average, non flamboyant people. I hate to think we should change ourselves to appease the straight majority but really I honestly think drag queen make pride events very off putting for a lot of straight people and create more problems than are necessary. We should be trying to show we are normal and not something to be feared by straight people..not trying to distance ourselves from the straight community. And if acting a tad more conservatively and less flamboyant means better acceptance for our minority group then so be it.
    Just no. It's bad enough what heteronormativity is doing inside gay circles as it is, some real internalised homophobia going on both in and out of the scene at the moment. Really bad thing to aspire to above... as if anyone with half a brain can't differentiate and use common sense. Why are people so averse to a bit of flair and drama, be it in makeup or not? Why does it have to be their problem if some people are willfully ignorant?

    Linda Some Flower wrote: »
    https://freeprideglasgow.wordpress.com/2015/07/22/free-pride-to-welcome-drag-performers/

    The original decision was made because many trans members of Free Pride have had negative experiences with drag acts veering towards racism, misogyny and transphobia; the lack of contact with the drag community contributed. We made a mistake, and we apologise.

    Hah, damage control.


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    #33
    Bannasidhe
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 19,219 Mod ✭✭✭✭Bannasidhe


    HamsterFace wrote: »
    If I was organizing the parade and didn't feel they were what the parade was about then I would say so.

    But it's not my parade, and I don't really care, just giving my opinion that I don't see why these OTT performance are always tied in with civil rights pertaining to homosexuality.

    Anyway, have a nice evening.

    This blog sums it up well
    So you feel uncomfortable with drag acts? Well, newsflash darling, that’s the point of most drag acts. That’s what it means to be Queer. To buck the trend. To be different. To offend other people’s sensibilities. To challenge political norms. To demand rights, not to demand other people are banned because you – and only you – are right. To confront orthodoxy, not impose a new one.
    http://www.kaleidoscot.com/sometimes-im-ashamed-not-proud-queer-community-3967

    Back atcha with the wish for a nice evening.


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    #34
    Bannasidhe
    Moderators, Society & Culture Moderators Posts: 19,219 Mod ✭✭✭✭Bannasidhe


    Links234 wrote: »
    And trans women! Don't forget Sylvia Rivera and Marsha P. Johnson ;)

    Absolutely.


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    #35
    wonderfulname
    Registered Users Posts: 3,943 ✭✭✭wonderfulname


    HamsterFace wrote: »
    ...I don't see why these OTT performance are always tied in with civil rights pertaining to homosexuality.
    Because loud people tend to shout first, so you'll frequently find them front and centre in rights movements, and because drag is very very gay.

    LGBT rights are where they are today because of the people who couldn't assimilate, not because of the people who so desperately want everyone to keep it down for fear of offending sensibilities, I could have sworn that was partly the point of it all.


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    #36
    Annasopra
    Registered Users Posts: 40,912 ✭✭✭✭Annasopra


    This poppped into my facebook feed tonight and really touches on some of this discussion

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/colin-walmsley/the-queers-left-behind-ho_b_7825158.html

    It was so much easier to blame it on Them. It was bleakly depressing to think that They were Us. If it was Them, then nothing was anyone's fault. If it was us, what did that make Me? After all, I'm one of Us. I must be. I've certainly never thought of myself as one of Them. No one ever thinks of themselves as one of Them. We're always one of Us. It's Them that do the bad things.

    Terry Pratchet



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    #37
    Rick_
    Registered Users Posts: 2,606 ✭✭✭Rick_


    Whether you like drag queens or not, they still deserve our respect and admiration.

    Marsha P. Johnson, a famous NY drag queen, was one of the first to fight back during the Stonewall Riots.

    Titti Von Tramp, a Belfast drag queen, was out on the street on the opening night of The Kremlin in Belfast after the place wes evacuated due to a bomb threat. She got all the press photos and attention, cavorting on police vehicles and encouraging everyone to party on the street instead, in a defiant message of "up yours - try as you might, we won't be intimidated".

    They may not be everyone's cup of tea, but it takes balls for a man to be a drag queen and fair play to them for doing it.


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    #38
    Vojera
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,812 ✭✭✭Vojera


    My gender has never been an issue for me. I can't say I've ever strongly felt "yep, being a woman is great, it's exactly right for me", or "I'm so glad I'm not a man, that wouldn't fit me at all." I'm a bit indifferent about it, to be honest. It's not that I'm genderqueer or anything, it's just that it has never even been on my radar of things to worry about.

    That's my roundabout way of saying that I don't know how it feels to be trans or to place any importance on gender identity. So I guess that if issues around gender identity are important to you I can sort of see how a misunderstanding of drag might feel like drag artists are making fun of something that is a sensitive subject for you. Deciding not to book any drag acts, and to specifically mention cisgender drag artists as being unsuitable, seems like a huge overreaction, though.

    I also didn't like this specific quote: "many trans members of Free Pride have had negative experiences with drag acts veering towards racism, misogyny and transphobia". That makes it seem like drag is a hotbed of offensive assholes, which it isn't. I have certainly experienced misogyny from gay men who view women as irrelevant to their lives. It doesn't make me say "hey, I'd better stay away from gay men" though, because it's obviously a minority. If there are issues with individual drag artists then surely not booking *those artists* is the way to go?


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    #39
    Lyaiera
    Registered Users Posts: 5,818 ✭✭✭Lyaiera


    To be honest, I don't think this went far enough. I say we ban everyone from Pride parades. They're silly jovial events with far too many people having fun in a large in-it-together atmosphere, with dancing and colour and whistles and loudness, and ridiculous shoes that defy logic. It makes it very hard to sit and be miserable.

    If there must be a pride parade I volunteer to follow behind someone on a tandem bike with the other cyclist playing a sad trombone sound. There will be at most two rainbow flags. I will wear sensible black flats before changing into my converse and I might put on eyeliner. Me and the cyclist will drink heavily (at the easily available seats) and mourn our lost youth. The trombonist may now wail or play a lamenting keen. We can have curry chips afterwards. We will walk home in the rain.

    If you have a tandem bike or can play the sad trombone noise (must bring your own trombone,) and are suitably dour and anti-fun please apply. If you get the first round we could see about being friends (I need friends, Waaah! I'm so lonely. :(:(:( )


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