Who's That Woman? Oh, it's a drag queen.... (or, Pride?)

The Last Sunday in June will always, for me, be equated with other "holidays" I hate... like Valentine's Day (ok, I'm bitter) and National Secretary's Day. As a journalist, I take words very seriously. Words like "potent" and "allegorical" and "anomalous" should be used only when the literal definition indicates the object being described.

Streaming right in that vein, I offer exhibit A for today's rant -- PRIDE. As anyone who owns a Barbra Streisand CD or a floral arrangement business knows, today marks that fabulously queer weekend where the true freaks come out: clad in leather straps, ballgags, neon green wigs, and sparkly thongs. I'm not even speaking about Halloween; the Greenwich Village's annual Halloween Parade isn't even this scary.

I'm talking about the notion behind Gay Pride, coming to a big fat gay city near you this weekend. But I am just wondering, in this age of assimilationist theory for homosexuals, who beg for the right to be just like their heterosexual counterparts, what are you proud of?

I am openly gay, but I am hardly represented by the people who stroll (or sashay?) through the Short North during the Pride Parade. These events, which are to celebrate diversity and the joys that come along with being different, become the Coney Island Freak Show, misconstruing blatant flambuoyancy as an accurate representation of pride. But in this mix, those who are comfortably gay are exploited as being "not gay enough" because it doesn't suit our fancy to roam around the city for two days in our CK Briefs calling everyone "guuuuurlfriend."

In my opinion, pride is something that you have every day -- and one weekend of debauchery is a shameful way to associate yourself with a community. To be truly proud, to have gay pride, is to not allow your outward impression to be made over for just a couple of days out of the year.

Avoid the Queer Eye for the REALLY Gay Guy makeover and show pride by not buying into the bullshit. If you want to carry a whip around to display pride, do it every day. Can you respect someone who suppresses his urges every day except for the end on June?

I am proud to be a gay man who can list interests that deviate from boy watching and clubbing. But I show that every day. Be an individual, but be that individual on a daily basis. We are all better than that.