Gay pride parades do little for their cause

Paisarn criticised the decision to cancel the Chiang Mai Gay Pride parade three years ago. Does he really believe that parades such as these will help promote the gay cause and acceptance of gays amongst other members of the community? Participants overly flamboyant costumes, outrageous make-up, their mincing and pouting only elicit sniggering if not outright laughter, finger-pointing and scorn from heterosexual onlookers. Just look at the photo accompanying the article to see an example of such ridiculousness. And why do we need these gay pride parades? We don't have heterosexual pride parades disrupting traffic and using up police resources.

I have several gay acquaintances who all dress and comport themselves conservatively. They do not make exhibitions of themselves. This is the way to gain acceptance in public. What they do in private is their own concern. Similarly with same-sex marriage. I was brought up to believe that marriage was a union between a man and a woman for the purposes of procreation. If two gays wish to live together that’s fine but giving them a marriage licence is wrong in my old-fashioned way of thinking.

If LGBTs want acceptance in Thai society they should stop drawing attention to themselves and lead a normal, quiet life - just like me.

A proud heterosexual..

John Sheppard

Ratchadamri