Glitter, Confetti, and Loud Music

     This week we were asked to write about either gender or sexuality. I could go on and talk about anything from the stereotypes of being gay, or how people tread around the subject or sugar coat things related to it trying to be way to politically correct, or how some people do not care at all what a person's sexual orientation is and how it a person should not be judged instantaneously because of it, and that in the long run sexuality could be considered a characteristic in people like brown or blue eyes and not really telling much about the person.

     The first thing that came to mine was a town about half an hour from where I grew up. I lived on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, and at the very end of Cape Cod is a town called Provincetown. It's a normal town, with normal people, it just so happens that Provincetown has one of the nations highest gay populations.

     Provincetown seems just like another town to me, maybe its because I have friends who live there, or it's because I can go hang out there to catch a whale watch or some sun in the summer. But one week each summer is “Gay Pride Week”, and people from all over the country flock to Provincetown.

     The biggest attraction of the week is the gay pride parade at the end of the week. Each year the committee chooses a different theme in hope to get people to get creative. The parade not only attracts people who are gay, but of all sexual orientations. This parade is usually filled with extreme stereotypes of gays, such as people dressed up flamboyantly, lots of glitter and make-up, drag queens, lesbian couples, just a whole mix of stuff. Picture packed cobblestone streets, lots of confetti, loud music coming from the floats, and a lot of dancing. The stereotypes are played up to a level in which they will not be seen for the rest of the year, and this is probably what attracts so many people. But in that this parade is held in a place where people are accepted for who they are, it seems like everyone is comfortable.

     While I know these stereotypes are exactly that, they are stereotypes, I know that not all people understand this. They see people of a different sexual orientation to be totally different lifestyles, and not similar to themselves in any way. It would make sense to me to at least be aware that we are not the only culture to have different sexual orientations, but they can be found around the world. In fact, in certain cultures it is more common and acceptable to be gay or bisexual or a lesbian. People in other places in the world can accept people for who they are and not based off one trait, so why can't we?