Over the next few days a number of cities and towns will be staging St. Patrick’s Day parades. While some might see this as a celebration of a derogatory stereotype of the Irish by drinking to excess and going so far as to color the beer green to take a little of the sting out because the beer is now festive, the origin and original purpose of the parades was for Irish-Americans to celebrate their pride in their heritage and their contributions to American society in spite of the old “Know Nothing” animus that promoted the idea that, when it came to gainful employment, “Irish Need Not Apply”.
In spite of calling police wagons “Paddy Wagons” as a play on Patty because they were manned by police officers who were largely Irish as that was one of the only jobs they could get, and the bigotry promoted by the trope that they were usually arresting their own, and those cute little leprechaun pictures with the chin whiskers actually being based on the original simian representations of the Irish that appeared in editorial cartoons, the Irish Americans saw a reason to celebrate the pride they had in themselves.
The parades were meant to be positive celebration of pride in self, not to mock the English or any other group.
The Italians did the same with Columbus day parades, and this tradition continued with Puerto Ricans and Mexican-American, the latter having their celebration too often reduced to non-Mexican-Americans dressing up in rather derogatory costumes while imbibing to excess.
Corned beef having been the only meat the Irish in the homeland were allowed to eat during English occupation as they raised the good beef for the English, only being able to consume the bad meats and scraps themselves, has become a traditional celebratory meal without the knowledge of its origin, just as Taco Bell type foods are consumed by those celebrating Cinco De Mayo without knowing those foods came about from the necessity of the peasants to make easy foods for themselves while the Mestisos and Spanish-Mexicans got the good stuff.
But in and of themselves, all the celebrations and parades are positive celebrations by those who see they have reasons to be proud of who they are and what they, as a people, have accomplished in spite of the odds.
The same is true of GLBT Pride parades and Festivals
They are events held by those who have, in spite of the odds, survived and contributed to the societies in which they live. If no one else celebrates them and their contributions to culture, it seems fitting that they celebrate themselves
But those who, while victimizing others, like to play the victim in the attempt to have us all just let them do what they want, however they want, to whomever they want without question, see this as something else.
I once heard a local conservative radio talk show host condemn Cinco de Mayo parades because “those people” were celebrating a foreign country with costumes and flags while having streets closed to have their parades, and then, on the same show, reminded people that he was going to be the grand marshal at a local St. Patrick’s Day parade.
When the Conway, Arkansas’s Pride Parade, the town’s twelfth, was getting ready for the big day, State Senator Jason Rapert claimed the Gay Pride parade should be forced to move to another day because it was offensive to Christians as it was scheduled for a Sunday. Many such parades are scheduled on Sunday because it is a day that most people have off.
According the Rapert,
“This is truly one of the most offensive public displays against Christians you will find anywhere in our state and especially offensive because they have specifically chosen Sunday to try and intimidate people who believe in the word of God.”
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He wanted people to contact the mayor and city council and urge them to oppose allowing the marches to continue on Sundays.
Apparently citizens should not pick a convenient day with less traffic that a parade would affect because one group wants special treatment and to be allowed to exercise control over others just because they want it.
In spite of the state senator’s opinion, the Conway mayor participated in the parade, and criticized Rapert’s complaint for claiming GLBT Pride is part of an anti-Christian agenda, and that, brace yourself for the usual biased claim, that many at the parade live a lifestyle of sin and are offensive to the sensibilities of the community, a community that ultimately rejected Rapert as the parade drew the biggest crowd ever.
Say anything negative about Rapert’s crowd though, and they will scream, “Persecution!”