Pride celebrations: Your thoughts?

I am mostly in the closet and go to pride parades with my wife and everyone just assumes we are straight allies. You do not have to flaunt your sexuality at pride events.

 

Last three years similar to you I have attend pride month as more of ally …

last month I joined as ally at work for our lgbtq group …became a community member. Since got to meet some amazing ppl that are in the open enjoying life ….last week I met this peer who is open ..he is in his mid 20s and he actually asked me out, we hooked up last week. We had an amazing hot mm sex…we are planning to take the relationship further …

 

Last year I went to what is called Pride in the Park (Montebello Park in St. Catharines Ontario Canada) with a bunch of gay friends of mine, my first time at such a thing, but yet another event in my gradual coming out process. At 62, after 30 years of being a closet bisexual, I've only in the last few years started doing things like openly getting together with a large group of gay men in our weekly meetups in straight pubs, going for coffee and dinners where I'm openly holding their hands at the table or even kissing a guy (in public!) before heading back home for sex, going to a straight dance club and dancing with my gay date for hours, etc. I've even started coming out to a select group of friends over the last couple of years.

I have survived the name-calling and beatings by school classmates because I had "gay characteristics" (only now I understand those traits may have been there because I was born homosexual and only in recent years have come out to myself as such), repressing my gay desires for many years (even while sucking hundreds of cocks for decades), and scared to show any "gay characteristics" to my very straight family, relatives, and regular friends (whatever you do don't let that pinky rise up while drinking from a glass).

It was only when I finally lost my gay virginity, as a top, in 2013, the greatest sexual experience of my life, that I truly acknowledged the gay side of myself, and I not only accepted it, but I began to really love it. I actually now feel and say that I'm very proud of being gay. But that statement is all wrapped up in my lifelong struggles with my homosexuality, and my survival of them, and to finally have the courage and determination to live my truth.

But I still won't be driving to Toronto for its huge huge gay pride parade and festival, at least not this year yet, because most of my gay friends tell me about how much of a super overcrowded chaos it is. But I do have to say part of me wants to march in the parade to announce with great pride and joy my homosexuality for the world to see (whether they accept it or not). I'm in solidarity with all gay and bisexual people! There are more of us than the world can even admit. And we are stronger, individually and as a group, than all the bigots out there put together.

With great sadness and disappointment I just discovered today, super coincidentally, that the annual, long time custom of Pride in the Park won't be happening this year. It has something to do with negotiations with the City of St. Catharines.

 

Benjamin Franklin once wrote that we must all hang together, or we will most certainly all hang separately. There are now over 30 different Pride flags. According to Gallup, LGBTQ+ folks make up only 9.3% of the population. There's strength in numbers, and under the present regime, solidarity is needed now more than ever. Consider the success the haters have had demonizing and persecuting Trans folk. Make no mistake; Niemöller was right. I don't know that focusing upon our differences rather than our similarities, further splintering of our community into ever smaller cliques and factions, is such a good idea.
I wish everyone a joyous Pride.