Don't Let the Parade Pass Me By

[eggwards]

This is one of those things that you just have to hate about Dallas. Everyone else this month gets to go out and have fun at their various Pride Events (well, unless you live someplace like Odessa Texas or Kazakhstan. pride isn't coming to visit you anytime soon).

I'm seeing several pictures of people enjoying parades and events, and wish I could join them, even in out 90 degree heat. Sure, we had the true colors tour, and that was pretty gay, but the only Dykes on Bikes you'll see are the ones exiting the superpages.com arena waiting to get on the freeway to go home.

Sometime, somewhere Dallas got shortchanged. Sure, there's a parade. It's the Alan Ross Texas Freedom Parade. I'm happy for Mr. Ross for getting his name on a parade, but it's not the Pride Parade, it's the Freedom Parade. There's a noticeable difference. Here in Dallas you have the freedom to be gay (especially after Lawrence vs. Texas), but we don't really think you should go around being so damned proud of it.

The Freedom Parade takes place in September. Someone thought that the weather would be better in September than it is in June. Well, that person is wrong. In fact, on average it's actually hotter.

There used to something called Razzle Dazzle Dallas! (you must use the exclamation point) which was the Dallas bar's attempt to keep people here during June, and not running off to other pride events across the nation. The event lasted a few years before dying a death caused by apathy. Perhaps with higher gas prices, and airlines nickeling and dimeing you to death, it's time to create something new, locally.

So those of you out there who get to enjoy your pride event, please share pictures, I'm dying to see what's going on out there, and want to know how much fun you are having. Let's hear it for the boys, and girls, and all things in-between!

As for me, I'm going to go see Wall-E and perhaps Swiffer the floors if I get the notion. I'll just have to wait for my parade to come in.

Comments

[nomadvak.livejournal.com]

Testify!

[eggwards.livejournal.com]

Woo! Halleluia!

Hopefully your ankle recovery is going well.

[furrbear.livejournal.com]

The "weird" scheduling of Pride events doesn't make sense outside of an understanding of the gay community's history in Dallas and the case of Baker vs Wade. After Don Bakers's coming out he was removed as a teacher for the Dallas Independent School District. Two years later he was involved in Baker v. Wade, challenging the constitutionality of 21.06.

On August 17, 1982, Judge Jerry Buchmeyer ruled, in the case of Baker vs. Wade, that Sec. 21.06 of the Texas Criminal Code is unconstitutional. The Texas Freedom Parade as it was then known began the next year to celebrate the granting of our freedom.

The decision was vacated by the 5th Circuit in the summer of 1985. For those three years, 21.06 was out and we were 'legal'.

In recognition of his years of organizing the parade, the parade committee (The Dallas Tavern Guild) added Alan Ross' name sometime around 2000 (I forget)

RDD was a annual fund raiser for gay organizations in Dallas. It was always held in June and was regarded as Dallas' 'observance' of the Pride event.

There was a third event back in those days, but I just cannot recall what it was.

[eggwards.livejournal.com]

That does give a historical basis for September, but it's not something that's given out with the "Welcome to Dallas" kit, apparently.

Although I know other cities that have Pride at different times, I can think of Phoenix and Ft. Lauderdale in particular, they have it before june. In September it just seems like an afterthought.

[furrbear.livejournal.com]

Palm Springs - last of October, first of November

[eggwards.livejournal.com]

True, that is one. I guess it makes sense to have that one when the makeup wouldn't be dripping off the drag queens.

I'd be perfectly happy with a November pride here. Then it might be 80 degrees.

[rafdfw.livejournal.com]

FYI: Dinner at Babe's is off tonight/Wednesday...Ed already has plans. He will be back in town in a couple of weeks, and we will reschedule then.

[eggwards.livejournal.com]

That's too bad. OK, we'll try again then!

[woofytexan.livejournal.com]

I must have missed this post. Here is the text I have sent to the Dallas Tavern Guild who is the primary sponsor and committee for the Alan Ross Freedom Parade. I'll have to do 2 post since it is lengthy.

Happy Pride to all that got to celebrate this past weekend.

You see, in Dallas, we do not celebrate Pride. Which is sad. We had Razzle Dazzle, which served as a lame excuse for Dallas Pride since it is in June but functioned more as a fundraiser for many worthy organizations. However, this year, there was no Razzle Dazzle. After losing some $50K on last years Razzle Dazzle since they asked for donations rather than sell tickets at the entry (mistake #1), moving the venue from Cedar Spring, the gayborhood, to Fair Park, (mistake #2) and the major backer of this years event decided to pull out at the last minute (rumored to begins with a C, ends with a S and has two O's and an R in the middle) (mistake #3), they cancel the entire event.

Now, we do have the Alan Ross Freedom Pride Parade in September. However, I have issues with this event.
#1 - It is in September. Pride is celebrated in June to commemorate the events of Stonewall and the gay community coming together to say "no more!" Celebrating in September is like celebrating your birthday 3 months late. It's like celebrating Christmas on St. Patrick's Day. (No offense to Irish Men.)
#2 - The history of the parade. The parade was moved from the typical June celebration to September in 1982 to celebrate Baker v. Wade, in which the Texas "homosexual conduct" law was unconstitutional (since sodomy only applies to homosexuals in Texas, not heterosexuals). In 1984, the Texas Supreme Court reversed the decision, deciding that the right to privacy did not include the right to engage in sodomy. So we have a parade to celebrate the overturn of a law that was reversed and put back on the books 2 years later? hmmm.
#3 - Alan Ross. Mr. Ross was important to the Dallas Gay community. But he had nothing to do with the above case. They named the parade after him for all of the good that he did for the community. That is all well and good but I can think of several other members of the Dallas GLBT community that have done good things for the community that have passed on from this life. I do not see a parade in their name. We need to celebrate all of our "martyrs" that have fought the battle of acceptance before us at a time when the rest of the nation remembers their "martyrs". These people need to be remembered and their importance to our community. The Dallas Gay and Lesbian Historic Archives and Research Library, located at the Dallas Gay and Lesbian Community Center serves that purpose. If the parade should be named after someone, it should be Bill Nelson since he is considered the founding father of the parade in June of 1980. You can read about him at the Community Center.

[woofytexan.livejournal.com]

My thought on the parade is that it needs to be moved back to June. Even May or July would work for me.
The argument is always made that June is too crowded already with Pride parades. Fort Worth is the weekend before Pride weekend. Houston has a weeklong celebration leading to the parade on Pride weekend. Next is Austin followed by San Antonio at the end of the month. Still plenty of time to have it during Pride season, last time I checked the calendar.
The argument is always made that it is too hot in June and July for the parade. I just saw last night that they now have sweat proof makeup that last for 18 hours. Might want to check into that. Houston, which averages 70% humidity, has their parade in June. Same with Austin and San Antonio but their humidity is lower than Houston. Maybe it would do some good for people to get out and sweat since Dallas was recently named the 2nd fattest city in the US, but I digress.
The argument I would make to the parade organization committee is look at the revenue dollars the city is missing out on by having the parade in September. Most people are out of summer vacation mode and are back in school or at work. If the parade were held in the summer months when people were available to travel (and when the Pride celebrations actually take place in other cities but we will not keep beating that dead horse), maybe the city would take notice of the extra revenue coming in to the city and get behind the parade with support as other cities have done, such as Toronto, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, and, hell, even Conway, Arkansas.
But, I am sure this will fall on deaf ears and we continue to have our pride celebration in September to celebrate a ruling that happened over 2 decades ago and was nullified two years later. Hey, here is an idea. Let's celebrate the recent ruling of Lawerance et al. v. Texas, which was upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States and cannot be repealed. It happens to be on June 26th.