A DJ in Chapel Hill, North Carolina organized a "heterosexual pride parade" this past weekend. 80-100 (depending on the news source) people marched carrying signs like "Don't hate, we're straight". It was, of course, a ratings stunt for the DJ's radio show as well as a lighthearted (and, in some cases, not so lighthearted) sarcastic jab at gay pride parades that happen all over the country.
Some gay activists took umbrage...other people took it as a joke...and some took it more seriously than they probably should have. But that's life in America...free speech is not absolute (the hoary cliche about not yelling "fire!" in a crowded theater and all that) but organizing and participating in such a parade is comfortably and undeniably under that 1st amendment umbrella.
That said, it will be nice we get to a point where pride...in whatever and whomever you are...is something that is such a natural part of our individual beings...and something accepted by others accept as a matter of course rather feared because it's something different than what they are or know... that we have no need make ostentatious collective displays to "prove" how proud you are to be what you are.
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