Opposition
There is opposition to pride events both within LGBT and mainstream populations. Critics, such as gay shame, charge the parades with an undue emphasis on sex and fetish-related interests which they see as counter-productive to LGBT interests, and exposing the "gay community" to ridicule. LGBT activists counter that traditional media have played a role in emphasizing the most outlandish and therefore non-representative aspects of the community. This in turn has prompted participants to engage in more flamboyant costumes to gain media coverage. Parody newspaper The Onion satirized this perceived result of gay pride marches in a fake news piece in 2001.
Social conservatives are sometimes opposed to such events because they view them to be contrary to public morality. This belief is partly based on certain things often found in the parades, such as public nudity, BDSM paraphernalia, and other sexualized features. Within the academic community, there has been criticism that the parades actually set to strengthen homosexual- heterosexual divides and increase essentialist views.
Read more about this topic: Pride Parade
Famous quotes containing the word opposition:
“Women will not advance except by joining together in cooperative action.... Unlike other groups, women do not need to set affiliation and strength in opposition one against the other. We can readily integrate the two, search for more and better ways to use affiliation to enhance strength—and strength to enhance affiliation.”
—Jean Baker Miller (20th century)
“Commitment, by its nature, frees us from ourselves and, while it stands us in opposition to some, it joins us with others similarly committed. Commitment moves us from the mirror trap of the self absorbed with the self to the freedom of a community of shared values.”
—Michael Lewis (late 20th century)
“Husbands and wives generally understand when opposition will be vain.”
—Jane Austen (1775–1817)