More Gay Perversity from Torstar Corp.

A thigh is quite a thigh, as Pride goes by
Rosie Dimanno

"Horny?'' asked the T-shirt, worn by a particularly good looking piece of male eye candy.
-high grade journalism here eh?

Yes, actually, but what can you do about it.
-you are in the right place Rosie

Pride Week in Toronto is a time when straight women can fill their eyes — if not their arms — with luscious, lip-licking, libidinous masculinity, running the entire gamut from he-man to girly-man variety.
-are you weird Rosie? Still a catholic?

None of whom, alas, gives a toss about us.
-so women support this as some kind of porn fantasy?

The old adage that the best-looking guys are all gay never feels truer than during this annual celebration of all things queer.
-based upon your ball-breaking views over the years I cannot see how many real men would find you attractive

Or, to be more formally inclusive and gender-permutated about it, all things LGBTTIQ: lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual, transgender, intersex and queer. We don't know what intersex means, to be honest, but we like the sound of it.
-you do, why?

And we must not take it personally when, standing this close to a fellow who is completely naked save for his combat boots and penis jewellery, we fail to get a rise out of him, despite all our coquetry.
-really why not Rosie? btw, since when is it legal to parade around in the nude in public?

On another day, this gentleman might have got himself arrested for lewd conduct because it's still not quite acceptable to walk around in the buff, even on Church St. But on this afternoon, Totally Naked Toronto — a group of nudity proponents who fought to make Hanlan's Point a clothing-optional venue — has set up their campy hutch just yards away from the OPP information kiosk, without a whiff of disapproval.
-really, maybe the OPP is full of gays too then?

"As long as I'm wearing shoes, it's not considered total nudity,'' explains Peter Gray. "But I did have one cop come up to me last night asking if I realized this was a family event.''
-lol, family event? I cannot believe they allow this?

Twenty-five years after Toronto's first "Gay Day Picnic'' at Hanlan's Point — the predecessor to Gay Pride parading — this is what the occasion has become; a fully integrated and utterly mainstream family event, appropriate for children, driven less by political activism than sheer entertainment, and pumping an estimated $80 million into the city.
-Rosie, how is public nudity related to sexuality family entertainment and appropriate for children? Do you have a psychological problem? In regards the $80 million, I would like to see the estimate because I do not trust you, the media nor governments (which love gayness), to tell the truth.

If anything, yesterday's parade could have used a shade more rude, lewd and crude.
-really Rosie, well I got news for you, I'm betting that it only gets worse in future. But what would it take to shock somebody like you by the way?

Not to promote stereotypes, but Pride Parade — that's the correct term for it, nowadays, as we are reminded by a glossary of terms contained in the Office Pride Dictionary included in our media package — has grown up so much, become so mature, it is verging on the downright PG-rated conventional.
-are you psychotic? what about this parade resembles PG themes? Nice to see that the media is doing all it can to 'sell this shyte' to the public as wholesome and innocent. The office pride dictionary in the media package- gives you talking points on the parade and tells you how to think does it?

At times, as the 158 groups involved in the silver-anniversary celebration set out from their launching point on Bloor St., it looked and felt almost like a Labour Day parade, or something equally conformist.
-oh you mean like socialist or communist do you? is that who is behind this decadence?

All the major unions had their own floats, as did the earnest community organizations, faith-based associations, health care agencies, sports leagues and assorted ethnic clubs. The million or so spectators who lined the route were reminded — as if reminding were needed — that there are gay Latinos, gay African-Canadians, gay Jews, gay Muslims, gay Lutherans, gay students, gay parents, gay environmentalists, gay anti-war protestors, gay fat men in combat fatigues and even Gay Geeks.
-what faith based associations... would like to see a list of them. You say one million observers, then what is with the 125,000 number mentioned in your newspaper and in the Globe & Mail?

So non-controversial has the parade become that Toronto's new police chief Bill Blair was at the very head of the marching affair, walking alongside Mayor David Miller and other municipal politicians, just behind scout cars draped with the rainbow flag. Blair is the first cop ever to participate, and he didn't look in the least bit uncomfortable.
-maybe Blair is gay? secondly if the parade was so mainstream as you suggest then why was he the first top cop to be in it?

His presence was warmly applauded, testament to the reconciliation that has occurred between a police force and a queer constituency that has been harassed by the law in the past. It was the infamous bathhouse raids in 1981 — 301 men taken into custody in Canada's largest mass arrest — that forged a politicized entity out of Toronto's homosexual community. That was also the year that Lesbian and Gay Pride Day Toronto was legally incorporated.
-the bath houses were places of homosexual orgies and likely prostitution in non-private places, clearly against the law. Obviously, gays want to be able to do what they want when they want and the gay infested police and political realm supports them.

"I was invited,'' Blair said simply, adding that the parade was yet another outward indication of the city's noble diversity. "I couldn't be any prouder than to be here today.''
-noble diversity? what is noble about people that only have sexual differences and perversity as their defining uniqueness?

He did, though, look a mite spit-polished and over-dressed for the occasion, even in casual uniform. When it was suggested that he might want to at least undo his top button, Blair dead-panned: "The one tucked under my buckle is undone."
-yeah Blair, dress like the other gays you wimp!!

There's no arguing the pride parade is one of the most well-behaved, unthreatening, love-is-all-around big public events. Parade marshals were endlessly patient in the blazing heat, and even apologetic when the march started 20 minutes late. "We're on dyke time, okay?'' said one woman as she semaphored floats into position.
-dyke time, as in union government employee time? Gay pride is not a love-in, it is a sex-in and a flaunting of gay power in the faces of civil society and a reminder and threat of what is to come.

What was missing though, if one might be so bold, is a dash of the eccentricity and outrageousness that were hallmarks of the parade in years past. So few men in leather codpieces and bondage gear, not as many drag queens in fishtail dresses and stiletto heels, not even a good soaking to be had from high-power squirt guns. One woman in a bikini bottom, her small breasts bared, looked more sheepish than in-your-face defiant as she led around a skinny stud-trussed acolyte on a leash.
-gee since when is bondage suitable for families and kids to observe?

Perhaps they no longer have to make fun of themselves to court acceptability from society because they've moved beyond all that. After all, the key political issue in 2005 is not police bullying or fag-baiting but same-sex marriage, which will surely be proclaimed by Parliament before it rises for the summer.
-they have the power because our PM loves gays for some reason and will do anything to help them it appears. Now gays do whatever they want it seems when the rest of us can't. You do seem really confident about gay marriage though, too confident I would say.

"It's changed a lot, but that's a good thing,'' argued Colin Irving, who was dressed in exact look-alike ensemble with his partner, Bert Nyboer, down to the yard-long braided beards (hair extensions). "When the parade was smaller, it felt like everybody knew one another. Maybe now, it's a bit more corporate. But I think that shows the acceptance and tolerance that's grown in the city.
-corporate? I thought that business was not obcessed with sex and public policy?

"It used to be a lot more about sex in the old days. I think that was because of the anger that we felt. We were made out to be deviants and sex molesters. So it was like, `we'll show you'. Now it's like, just leave it in the bedroom. We don't have to be so explicit about sex any more or run around wearing a jock strap.
-if that is the case then why the S&M and nudes running around? Besides who asked you to be explicit? The idea of that was to appeal to your own kind and to openly defy the system. It was not at all about creating dialogue or inviting reasoned debate between yourselves and society.

"Take a look. There are gay men pushing their babies in strollers. Those are families. That's who we are.''
-where did the kid come from? A family can be what you define it to be but not society that has existed for at least 10,000 years?

Just so. But there should also always be room for those fearless superheroes, Pansy Man and Sissy Boy, who had their own message yesterday.
"We're here to save Pride from heterosexuality.''
-who is going to save heterosexuality from Pride?

IN conclusion, annother puff piece from the corporate MSM, trying to sell the homo dream to the mainstream, primarily using monetary benefit as the real reason for acceptance. The glossing over of the sexuality here and the perverse anti-family and anti-traditional views espoused here make Dimanno look like somebody that hates where she came from, even though I'm willing to bet that she has a great life and probably doesn't deserve it.