I believe homosexuals stage pride parades and other such events because they have been shunned for centuries. Openly admitting (let alone deliberately drawing attention to) your socially unacceptable ways takes a lot of balls, and it certainly is not the same as staging a "lil' athlete T-ball T-party" or a "heterosexual pride square dance." These acts of athletic and heterosexual prowess are and always have been not only accepted, but also lauded by mainstream society.
Public displays of homosexual pride are important because there are many people who, like Mr. Vigliotti, get shivers down their spine when they even think of a man kissing another man. "Stubble on stubble? It just ain't normal," you say!
Some people don't just express their squeamishness in a poorly written letter to the editor; they kill other human beings because of who kisses whom. Some people are so uncomfortable with the thought of a gay relationship that they will not even accept that one may exist. Others still will regard homosexuality as an aberration, a disease, a mental disorder.
Public displays of pride bring attention to the subject. You cannot deny the existence of happy, healthy, homosexual people when you see 'em displaying en masse, rainbow banners flapping gaily in the breeze.
In short, just chill out. We should all be encouraged to love who and what we want, be it man, woman, sheep, table leg or saucer of Jell-O. It doesn't matter a whit as long as it's love and nobody's getting hurt. Those who will impede progress and happiness are the only ones who need to be stopped.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
