Will Phillips Grand Marshall at Self-Described “Safe” Pride

Will Phillips Grand Marshall at Self-Described “Safe” Pride

Tue, Jun 22, 2010 by Andrew

 

At ten-years old, Will Phillips may be one of the gay rights movement’s youngest heroes. Though he’s not necessarily gay himself, this Arkansas kid burst onto the activist scene last year, when he refused to pledge allegiance to the flag until gay people were given equal rights. How precocious! How precious!

Now that he’s a super star, Phillips, who describes himself as an ambassador for gay rights, has been named Grand Marshall for the Northwest Arkansas Gay Pride Parade. The announcement will no doubt ruffle feathers, and pride organizers are doing nothing to stem anti-gay sentiments. In fact, they’re reinforcing them…

Homophobes often like to argue that we gays are out to seduce and corrupt the nation’s youth. We’re monsters, child molesters and enemies of good, clean family fun. That attitude explains why the American Family Association is currently rallying its forces against Home Depot, which will soon hold a pride event that includes a workshop for kids. Oh, the humanity!

“The worst offense is that Home Depot has set up kids’ workshops at these gay pride festivals,” insists AFA’s Randy Sharp. “These are events that have loud, boisterous homosexual activists making their voices heard — and Home Depot is putting money behind setting up kids’ booths at these kinds of events.” Organizers in Arkansas are well aware of the right wing’s fears on gay pride, and are already taking preemptive – and incendiary – measures to deflect potential criticism.

Rather than using Phillips’ Grand Marshall appearance as an opportunity to “normalize” gay communities’ relation to America’s youth, pride organizers in Arkansas are attempting to set themselves apart from the rest of the nation’s queer centers. “”We’re not San Francisco, New York, we’re pretty much a family affair, so it’s pretty safe to be there,” said organizer Joney Harper. The implication, of course, is that kids in New York or San Francisco would not be safe marching along with the homosexual set, thus buying into the right wing’s homophobic talking points.

I understand Pride can get a bit risqué, but I’ve never in my many years seen anything outright offensive or overtly sexual. I mean, this isn’t the Folsom Street Leather Festival, which some criticize for baring too much chapped-ass. Pride is a celebration not only of gay communities, but also of the human endeavor for equality. Even if there are some shirtless men gyrating, shouldn’t we teach our children than sexuality is a beautiful thing that carries no shame?
A few weeks ago, while at a family friend’s pool, I was flipping through their collection of magazines and came across that much publicized 3-D Playboy. Obviously I had to take a look, but wasn’t sure it was appropriate with her boys – aged 8 and 13– running around.

The matriarch didn’t seem to care: when the kids asked what we were gawking at, she simply said, “Boobie ladies – in 3-D.” The boys were obviously intrigued and went to town flipping through the skin mag’s pages. They didn’t objectify. They didn’t even hoot or holler. They just took a look, laughed a bit and went on their way.

That interaction struck me as the best way to treat sex and sexuality: nonchalantly. Kids need to be taught that sex is something natural, when done safely, rather than turning it into something secretive, perhaps shameful, and ultimately more alluring.

Harper’s remark on pride turns homosexuality into something that needs to be sterilized, as made “safe,” opposed to the maniacs who carry the mantle in coast cities like San Francisco. In that light, she sounds more like Randy Sharp than a proud gay activist. Good thing Will Phillips is so bright, otherwise he might be brainwashed into segregating gays willy-nilly into “innocuous” and “evil.”