Sneaky gay pride apparel
However, in the past I’ve noticed that when the TV news carried a brief clip of the parade, they seem to focus on the bare bums and flashy costumes.
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If he had, he might also have noted, as I did once again this year, the supportive inclusive spirit and the incredible diversity of the spectators and participants walking together on Denman Street and Beach Avenue: families, young people, older people, people of every cultural community in our multicultural country, gays, non-gays. I don’t get the impression from Purewal’s remarks that he ever even attended a Pride parade. They too, very wrongly I would argue, interpret some elements of the parade as being vulgar.īut the vulgarity argument is a bit of a red herring. Also, if we take him at his word that he did not intend to attack the gay community (jeez, the guy said he supported gay marriage after all), but only that he objected to “vulgarity” in the parade-those remarks bear a strong resemblance to what I’ve heard a few people in the gay community say. Who needs more invective than we already have?įinally, many people also expressed their support for the gay community and we should at least thank Purewal for giving our friends the opportunity to speak out so massively in our defence as they have done. But on this issue we need to take the time to be more thoughtful. I have to admit that if I could tweet or Twitter, I would also have posted something short and nasty at the time that I would have had plenty of time to regret, like I imagine Purewal himself must be doing. A lot of people attacked him, and I probably would have too, but the medium only allows for a short burst of (usually angry) comments. Yet another reason to respond to him relates to people’s reaction to his comments. Once they’re out there, they stay there indefinitely and won’t go away. Another reason to respond is that he made his careless comments via social media. And, as someone involved in education at Kwantlen, my purpose is not to trash Purewal but to educate him through this eminently teachable moment. Thankfully, the university quickly distanced itself from his remarks and rightly pointed out, as I know from my own experience there for the past two decades, that Kwantlen is a very accepting place. Such comments cannot be ignored and it seems appropriate for another faculty member of Kwantlen Polytechnic University forcefully to respond to them. So why thank him at all for this display of intolerance? And why do so now? I can think of a few good reasons. As we all know, in the face of a storm of criticism and with the able assistance of a columnist from the right-wing National Post, who helped him massage his message, he retracted his initial statement that the parade be banned to say that it was too “vulgar” to take his family. This is especially true as some quarters have interpreted Shinder Purewal’s recent thoughtless and very tacky remarks on the gay Pride parade as homophobic. When someone does the gay community a favour, even if unintended, he should be sincerely thanked.