As with any pride event, the the Village this weekend was filled with crowded bars, pink decorations flying rainbow flags, drag queens and flamboyant gays. It was nice to experience, especially this open air dance and singing show, the music and the atmosphere, and it was wonderful bonding with friends and generally having a good time.
But, like every year, there gets to a point where I'm just bored or even tired of the 'scene'. , Of course, there is the beautiful part of it, where couples come out holding hands, kissing, hugging and proud of their love for one another. But there is also this sense of competition, this veneer of overly sexualised energies. People strut down the streets, wearing flashy clothes, some bare chested showing off their package, all wanting to capture some kind of attention. And people point and stare and comment... how this body or that body is so wonderful, so perfect, how hideous or gorgeous the clothes are on a person. Looks, shoes, hairdoes, skin complexion, face and figure are all scrutinised and judged.
Of course, I do it too for I am not free from judgment and making up an opinion just based from what I see, and I make snide comments here and there. But it makes me wonder: is this a gay thing, or just being human? Does the community, because it is a minority and because there are so few of us, thrive on competition to be the most magnificent, glamourous, beautiful, and worship only the outer beauty and the young?As ever, I feel disenchanted, isolated and do not really feel I can identify with the gay stereotype that is portrayed and perpetuated by the media, and in a way, by the community itself: the attention-hungry, loud, flamboyant, promiscuous, fashionable, beautiful gay man.
After all the partying, drinking, and judging is over and done with, we all go home, we leave the Village, and return to our lives. Some leave with someone (else) in their arms, others head home alone. What was it all about again?
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