Gay Pride parades used to mean protests. Now they're an excuse for straight kids to party [View all]
SAN FRANCISCO – Paul Ellis has seen a lot of Gay Pride parades. He marched in Pittsburgh's first one in 1973 with just 40 other people, flanked by angry residents holding glass bottles and rocks with only two unhappy police officers for protection.
Ellis, manager at Cliff's Variety Store in the historic Castro district, is part of the generation of LGBTQ activists who fought for basic rights, to get jobs and to avoid arrest. When he most recently attended the San Francisco Pride Parade with his partner, he was shocked by what he saw.
"I stopped and said (to my partner), 'Do you see any gay people around us?' And it was like, 'Oh my God, no,' " he said.
They had run into a cultural shift breathtaking in its speed and still something of a disconnect to many in the gay community. In many large cities, Gay Pride marches have become the new St. Patrick’s Day, only with rainbow tutus instead of shamrocks.
Read more: https://www.coloradoan.com/story/news/LGBT-issues/2018/06/22/pride-parades-excuse-straight-kids-party/712068002/
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