Revolution #53, July 16, 2006
World Can't Wait at the Gay Pride Parades
In cities across the U.S., hundreds of thousands of people took part in gay pride parades and festivals in late June. This year's gay pride events took place at a time of an intensifying onslaught of anti-gay vengeance and moves to impose a repressive morality, led from the highest levels of government. In two major speeches, George Bush backed a constitutional amendment to define marriage as “the union of a man and a woman.” The amendment did not move out of the Senate in this round, but for the first time more Senators voted for the amendment than against it, and a key proponent of the amendment declared the vote a “significant milestone” in the anti-gay campaign. All this has unleashed new waves of vicious lies and ugly prejudice from Christian fascist forces. And on July 6, the New York Court of Appeals and the Georgia Supreme Court issued decisions against gay marriage.
An important part of the mix in this year's gay pride events was the participation of World Can't Wait, bringing to the people the message about the urgency of driving out the Bush regime and the call for a day of mass resistance on October 5. A report on the World Can't Wait website from San Francisco said in part:
“SUNDAY JUNE 25TH was the 36th annual LGBT Pride 2006 Parade in San Francisco, said to be the 2nd largest gathering in the US after the Rose Bowl. People come from all over the world to celebrate Pride Day and to see the spectacle—everything from the 500 Dykes on Bikes to gay families with strollers…
“This year the World Can’t Wait had a float. We realized that pictures of torture would not fit in with the party mood. So we went for the theme of Bush and Pat Robertson behind bars, under a sign saying 'The Real Terrorists'… Over the parade route of a mile, the crowd of 500,000-1,000,000 was electrified. Observers reported that many contingents were warmly received with applause, but the waves of rising excitement from the sidewalks as our contingent passed were extra-high and amazing.
“Did I mention we won a Pride parade prize? Well we did!! A rainbow ribbon that said 'Absolutely fabulous theme contingent'…”
The full report from San Francisco and reports from other cities are available online at worldcantwait.org.
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